A federal appeals court on Monday upheld Trump administration rules withdrawing Title X funding from any medical facilities that provide abortions.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — long regarded as a liberal body, though President Trump appointees have started to tilt the balance — lifted preliminary injunctions against the rules issued by lower courts in cases from three different states.
The court cited similar rules adopted by the Reagan administration that had been approved by the Supreme Court.
“In light of Supreme Court approval of the 1988 regulations and our broad deference to agencies’ interpretations of the statutes they are charged with implementing, plaintiffs’ legal challenges to the 2019 rule fail,” Judge Sandra S. Ikuta wrote in the court’s opinion. “Accordingly, we vacate the injunctions entered by the district courts and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
Title X was first enacted in 1970, prohibiting government grant money from being “used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.” The 1988 regulations referred to by the court included programs that merely provided counseling or referrals for abortion for family-planning purposes. Those rules were approved by the Supreme Court in 1991. – READ MORE
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