AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Secretary Xavier Becerra, and other members of the Biden administration over a federal contraception program that allows minors to get birth control prescribed without parental consent.
The lawsuit involves a rule the Biden administration added to Title X, a program which was adopted during the Nixon-era that provides contraception confidentially to any person, regardless of age, immigration status, or income.
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Federal regulations and court rulings have held that Title X providers cannot require teens to get parental permission in order to be prescribed birth control, according to the Texas Tribune.
In 2021, the Biden administration issued the new rule saying that Title X providers “may not require consent of parents or guardians for the provision of services to minors, nor can any Title X project staff notify a parent or guardian before or after a minor has requested and/or received Title X family planning services.”
This rule came at the same time a 2020 court case was unfolding in Amarillo, where a father sued over the Title X provision, saying it violated his parental rights as guaranteed by the Texas Constitution. In that case, the court sided with the father, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld the decision—effectively requiring Title X providers in Texas to get parental consent before providing birth control.
Paxton is suing because he says the rule defies the ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“By attempting to force Texas healthcare providers to offer contraceptives to children without parental consent, the Biden administration continues to prove they will do anything to implement their extremist agenda—even undermine the Constitution and violate the law,” said Paxton. “Federal courts have already shut down their previous attack on parental rights, and I will ensure that we stop them once again.”
The Texas Tribune contributed to this story.