Maine has joined with 22 states in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration over new conditions for Title X grant funding.
The program helps clinics provide reproductive healthcare — including cancer screenings — to low-income patients.
Under new conditions issued in July, clinics that receive funding would be required to eliminate diversity practices, exclude transgender patients, discourage the use of contraception in favor of natural family planning and counsel all patients in the direction of marriage and parenthood.
The states argue that the conditions are unlawful and discriminatory, and are asking the court to block the administration from enforcing them.
“As access to health insurance is becoming increasingly prohibitive, Title X provides critical health care services to low-income Mainers across the state every day,” Attorney General Aaron Frey says in a written statement. “The federal government is waging an ideological attack on Title X funding through these conditions. This suit will ensure Title X funds continue to flow as directed by Congress without unlawful interference by the President.”
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Maryland.
The attorneys general leading the lawsuit are from New York, Maryland and Massachusetts. They’re joined by the attorneys general in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, and the governors of Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.