Supreme Court won’t allow Oklahoma to reclaim federal money in dispute over abortion referrals

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Oklahoma’s emergency appeal seeking to restore a $4.5 million grant for family planning services in an ongoing dispute over the state’s refusal to refer pregnant women to a nationwide hotline that provides information about abortion and other options.

The brief 6-3 order did not detail the court’s reasoning, as is typical, but says Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch would have sided with Oklahoma.

Lower courts had ruled that the federal Health and Human Services Department’s decision to cut off Oklahoma from the funds did not violate federal law.

The case stems from a dispute over state abortion restrictions and federal grants provided under a family planning program known as Title X that has only grown more heated since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and many Republican-led states outlawed abortion.

Clinics cannot use federal family planning money to pay for abortions, but they must offer information about abortion at the patient’s request, under the federal regulation at issue.

Oklahoma argues that it can’t comply with a requirement to provide abortion counseling and referrals because the state’s abortion ban makes it a crime for “any person to advise or procure an abortion for any woman.”

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