President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services is weaponizing its grant-giving power against states that refuse to use taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.
HHS originally planned to award $4.5 million to the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) this year for “family planning services,” which are historically defined as pregnancy prevention, testing, and counseling as well as sexually transmitted infection and disease testing and treatment, and other preventative screenings.
The same bureaucratic arm that funneled hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to known pro-abortion activists last year, however, is now penalizing Oklahoma for keeping taxpayer funds away from abortions, by withholding the Title X grant worth millions.
OSDH announced in late May that HHS’s Office of Population Affairs “determined our Title X program is out of compliance” due to differences between the Biden administration’s abortion policy and Oklahoma state law.
In a June 1 letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra exclusively obtained by The Federalist, Oklahoma Republicans Sens. James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin and Reps. Josh Brecheen, Stephanie Bice, Kevin Hern, Frank Lucas, and Tom Cole demanded the “immediate reinstallation” of the award and warned that “HHS’ interpretation and application of the obligations of grantees under federal statute” is wrong and will “substantially harm our constituency.”
“Abortion is not family planning; it is family destruction. Every abortion takes an unborn child’s life. Oklahoma’s laws protect women and unborn children from the violence of abortion in the interest of promoting families, keeping Oklahomans safe, and
