Attorney General Neronha, coalition challenge Title X funding conditions

Published on Thursday, August 27, 2026

Attorney General Peter F. Neronha today joined a coalition of 23 states in suing to block a new federal policy that threatens to strip federal family planning funding from states and providers unless they meet a variety of unlawful conditions.

The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, challenges new conditions on Title X funds, which support reproductive health care, family planning, cancer screenings, and other critical preventive care for millions of Americans nationwide. The new conditions will penalize states and providers that refuse to abandon nondiscrimination initiatives or conform their Title X programs to the administration's ideological vision of family planning. The states are asking the court to block the unlawful and discriminatory conditions and protect Americans' access to affordable, high-quality health care.

"Rhode Island's health care system is already in crisis, and this Administration's latest unlawful attempt to strip funding from the states will make it worse," said Attorney General Neronha. "Title X funding supports critical health care services - including family planning, cancer screenings, and the prevention and treatment of communicable diseases - for some of our most vulnerable community members. Health care cannot be contingent on strongarming states into compliance with the President's political ideology. We must prioritize affordable and accessible health care for all Americans, and we will continue to fight against policies that put these essential services out of reach."

Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated specifically to family planning and related preventive health services. For more than 50 years, Title X has helped millions of low-income patients access contraception, cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, pregnancy testing and counseling, and other preventive health care.

In July, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a new funding notice for the next five-year grant cycle that, for the first time, requires applicants to align their programs with a sweeping set of political priorities as a condition of receiving or keeping federal funds. The priorities include eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, excluding and stigmatizing transgender people, discouraging the use of contraception in favor of natural family planning, requiring clinics to counsel all patients toward marriage and parenthood rather than providing neutral, patient-centered guidance, and complying with unrelated political priorities like "ending crime and disorder on America's streets." Providers who don't comply risk losing their funding altogether.

In Rhode Island, any interruption of funding would have an immediate impact on statewide family planning services supported through grants to the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH). RIDOH receives $1,083,848 annually in Title X grants, which are reallocated to seven federally qualified health centers, which support contraception, pregnancy testing, HIV/STI testing, and related preventative services, particularly in underserved communities. These grants served 25,573 individuals statewide in FY2025 and support six full-time employees. If this funding is interrupted, the State would be at imminent risk of losing critical reproductive health services which could lead to higher rates of unintended pregnancy, STIs including HIV, teen pregnancy, and adverse birth outcomes.

The coalition argues that the new HHS conditions conflict with Title X's governing statute and regulations, which require providers to offer a broad range of contraceptive methods, provide nondirective counseling, and serve all patients, including LGBTQ+ individuals, in an inclusive and nondiscriminatory manner. The states also argue that HHS unlawfully imposed the new conditions without the notice-and-comment process required under the Administrative Procedure Act. Additionally, the coalition argues that the conditions are so vague that providers cannot reasonably determine what compliance requires, in violation of the Constitution's Spending Clause, which limits the government's ability to attach unclear or unrelated strings to federal funding.

The coalition is asking the court to declare the administration's new political conditions unlawful, block HHS from enforcing them, and preserve access to Title X funding for state health agencies and other qualified providers under the program's existing, longstanding rules.

Joining Attorney General Neronha in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

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