Tim Walz Applauds Keith Ellison for Joining a Second Lawsuit Against the Trump Administration

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has joined another multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration over its revisions to the Title X family-planning grant program.

In late February, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced changes to the Title X program and now requires “clear financial and physical separation between Title X funded projects and programs or facilities where abortion is a method of family planning.”

The changes also prohibit “referral for abortion as a method of family planning,” and eliminate the “requirement that Title X providers offer abortion counseling and referral.”

Since Title X’s inception in the 1970s, the funds were prohibited from going directly toward abortions, but abortion providers like Planned Parenthood could still qualify for the funds to provide non-abortion services. Planned Parenthood is the largest recipient of Title X funds with an estimated $60 million in annual funding, according to The Washington Post.

On Tuesday, Ellison announced that he would be joining 20 other attorneys general in a multi-state lawsuit that challenges “a gag rule that the Trump administration has just imposed on grantees of Title X family-planning funds.”

According to a press release from Ellison’s office, the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Oregon, and argues that the new rule is unconstitutional and in violation of the federal Administrative Procedure Act by “exceeding its statutory authority.”

Minnesota received $2.2 million in Title X funding in 2018 and $3.2 million in 2017, a majority of which was used for patients who are at or below the federal poverty level.

“Programs funded by Title X are particularly important in Greater Minnesota. Women in Greater Minnesota have a 30 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with invasive diseases like cervical and breast cancer compared to women in the metro area, and are less likely to receive preventive care and timely diagnoses,” the Attorney General’s Office states, noting that 10 Planned Parenthood clinics are located throughout Greater Minnesota.

“Title X programs improved the health and lives of more than 55,000 Minnesotans in 2017. Now the Trump administration is illegally trying to gag providers from offering women medically-sound, unbiased, and affordable healthcare, which will impose burdens on everyone in our state, especially in Greater Minnesota,” Ellison said Tuesday. “My job is to help Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity. This rule makes it harder for people, especially women, to do both. That’s why I’m joining this effort to fight it.”

Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) applauded Ellison’s efforts on Twitter Tuesday morning, and said he is “deeply concerned about the Trump administration’s Title X gag rule.”

I am deeply concerned about the Trump Administration’s Title X gag rule, and I stand with @AGEllison as he takes legal action to prevent it from being implemented.

— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) March 5, 2019

“This rule would interfere in the doctor-patient relationship, gut women’s access to family planning services, and force medical professionals to knowingly withhold information from their patients,” Walz said. “That is why I have joined governors across the country in urging the Trump administration to rescind this misguided rule, and I will continue fighting to protect the health of Minnesotans.”

Minnesota joins the District of Columbia and 19 states in the lawsuit, including Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tim Walz” by Tim Walz.