Around New England

Trump Administration Can’t Yank Federal Money From Planned Parenthood, Massachusetts Attorney General Claims in Lawsuit

March 6, 2019

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is one of 20 Democratic state attorneys general filing a lawsuit in federal court challenging the Trump administration’s new regulations requiring health clinics that receive federal Title X money for contraception for poor people not provide information and referrals concerning abortion.

The regulations are widely seen as targeting Planned Parenthood, since they require that recipients of federal funds not see patients for contraception in facilities where abortions take place; Planned Parenthood sees patients in abortion clinics. Planned Parenthood currently gets about $60 million a year in Title X funding from the federal government.

Three other Democratic attorneys generals in New England also joined the lawsuit, but Maine’s attorney general, Aaron Frey, a Democrat, did not.

The other New England states that did are Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont. New Hampshire didn’t; its attorney general is a Republican.

The other states participating in the lawsuit are New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Hawaii.

The attorney general for the District of Columbia also joined the lawsuit.

The attorney general of California filed a separate, related lawsuit, as did the attorney general of Washington state.

Besides Maine, the only Democratic state attorneys general who did not join the lawsuit or file their own are from the states of Iowa and Mississippi, where pro-life sentiment is strong.

The federal lawsuit was filed in Oregon on Tuesday, March 5, according to Healey’s office.


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