Cleveland.com | Jeremy Pelzer
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and his fellow Republican counterparts in 18 other states are seeking to intervene in a U.S. Supreme Court case over whether federal family-planning money can go to clinics that perform abortions or make abortion referrals.
In a joint motion filed Monday with the nation’s high court, the attorneys general argued that Trump Administration rule changes to the Title X federal family planning program benefit Ohio. They noted that the Ohio Department of Health is now receiving millions in grant money that once went to Planned Parenthood before the changes were made in 2018.
The new policy, they added in a legal brief, “ensure(s) that states can participate in the important Title X program without appearing to approve of abortion.”
Federal funds cannot be used to directly pay for abortions. The Title X program, rather, helps low-income Americans receive medical exams, contraceptive services, and cancer and sexually transmitted disease screenings.
However, abortion opponents argue that giving Title X money to Planned Parenthood for those services indirectly supports the organization’s abortion procedures.