HHS withholds family planning funds from Oklahoma due to state’s pro-life laws

On May 24, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rescinded from the state of Oklahoma a $4.5 million family planning grant under Title X of the Public Health Services Act. The funding was denied to the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) allegedly because Oklahoma has enacted pro-life laws to protect preborn humans from abortion.

Abortion is prohibited in Oklahoma except in cases in which the mother’s life is at risk. In reality, induced abortion is never medically necessary since the child can be delivered without intentionally and directly killing her first in order to save the mother’s life and attempt to preserve the child’s life. On May 31, the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down two state laws that prohibited abortion, but preborn children remain mostly protected in the state.

Sen. James Lankford

@SenatorLankford

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The Biden Admin is withholding federal healthcare funding from Oklahoma because my state refuses to violate state and federal law when it comes to abortions.

1:17 AM · Jun 13, 2023

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According to OSDH, HHS revoked the funding based on OSDH’s pro-life services, deeming them to be “out of compliance.” However, Title X states that “none of the funds appropriated under this title shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.” The procedures the Title X funding is designated for are all services that OSDH offers to low-income individuals. About 30,000 people are estimated to be effected by the removal of funding.

On June 1, Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma led a delegation letter to HHS challenging its decision to withdraw the funding based on the state’s pro-life laws.

“HHS has chosen to prioritize abortion instead of prioritizing actual health care, by suspending Title X funding awarded to OSDH because of its obligation to abide by federal law and the state laws of Oklahoma,” states the letter. “It is absurd that HHS is suspending funds previously granted to OSDH for its refusal to refer for a procedure that the underlying federal statute explicitly forbids.”

Due to the suspension of funding, Lankford declared that the state’s ability to assist Oklahomans who “rely on OSDH’s family planning program for Title X family planning services including cancer screenings, pregnancy prevention, STI diagnostic and treatment, breast exams, and depression screening and referrals, among a multitude of other services” will be “severely limited.”

The letter states that “Abortion is not family planning, it is family destruction. Every abortion takes an unborn child’s life.”

Lankford is demanding that the funding be immediately reinstated and gave HHS until June 12 to provide documentation that it would do so.

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