LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general in support of family planning under the Title X program.
Enacted in 1970, Title X is the only federal program that is dedicated to providing family planning services.
A Texas court ruling, Deanda v. Becerra, in December has prohibited provision of Title X services, including birth control, to Texas minors without parental consent.
“If upheld, it will send the Title X program into turmoil, cause chaos for reproductive health clinics, and make it harder for the who need reproductive care to access it,” Nessel said in a press release on Tuesday.
The Biden Administration is appealing the Texas court decision.
Title X recipients provide a broad range of medically approved reproductive health services.
These include contraception, other family planning services and adolescent pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention, infertility services, and assistance to achieve pregnancy, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In an amicus brief, the coalition of attorneys general supported the Biden administration’s appeal of the Texas court ruling.
They say that studies show confidentiality is critical in ensuring minors’ access to Title X services.
“In 2018 alone, the program supported about 3,825 safety-net family planning centers that collectively served 3.9 million women, men and adolescents,” said the statement from Nessel’s office.
Also in the coalition are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
