Attorney General Josh Kaul joins multistate coalition supporting defense of Title X program

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By Ethan Duran

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The Wisconsin Department of Justice on Tuesday announced Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul joined a coalition if 24 states in support of the Title X program and reproductive healthcare provided by the program. Title X is the only federal program dedicated to family planning services.

The coalition supported the Biden Administration’s appeal of a Texas court ruling that restricted the Title X program’s ability to serve minors in Texas, according to an amicus brief. The coalition argued imposing restrictions on the program would make it more difficult for vulnerable young people to seek and receive necessary medical care and could hurt their health and safety.

“The district’s court ruling would lead to worse reproductive health outcomes. The unjustified restriction the court imposed on the effective Title X program should be blocked,” Kaul said in a statement Tuesday.

In Washington, the Biden Administration is appealing a December 2022 ruling by the U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Texas Matthew Kacsmaryk in Deanda v. Becerra, DOJ officials added. The ruling stopped the provision of Title X services to minors without parents’ consent.

According to the amicus brief, the coalition of attorneys general supported the Biden Administration appeal which argued that confidentiality plays an important role in protecting adolescents’ access to Title X services.

The guarantee of confidentiality encourages sexually active adolescents to seek necessary medical care, helps prevent teenage pregnancies and lower the transmission rates of sexually transmitted infections, enhances the quality and effectiveness of services provided and encourages family involvement in family planning, according to studies.

The Title X program is an important source of funding for states to provide affordable birth control and other sexual and reproductive care to their residents, especially those from underserves groups as rural communities, communities of color and low-income, uninsured and underinsured families, DOJ officials said. The program in 2018 supported around 3,825 safety-net family planning centers that collectively serviced 3.9 million women, men and adolescents, officials added.

In filing the brief, DOJ officials noted Kaul was joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

A copy of the amicus brief can be found online.