Reproductive rights groups have ended a court fight with the Trump administration after federal officials agreed to release millions of dollars that had been frozen for family planning and contraception services, clearing the way for funding to resume.
The American Civil Liberties Union confirmed it moved to drop the lawsuit this week following assurances from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that the withheld money would be restored. The legal challenge stemmed from a decision last year by HHS to pause $27.5 million in grants awarded to 16 organizations, including Planned Parenthood affiliates, while the agency reviewed whether the groups were complying with federal requirements.
When the funding was first suspended, HHS did not identify which laws or executive orders were at issue. In a letter dated Dec. 19, however, the department told grant recipients that it had reviewed information showing they were acting in line with “federal civil rights laws.”
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That letter also stressed what HHS described as the groups’ “ongoing obligation to comply with all terms of the award, including by not engaging in any unlawful diversity, equity or inclusion-related discrimination in violation of such laws.”
With the funding dispute resolved, the ACLU filed a motion on Jan. 13 asking the court to voluntarily dismiss the case.
“We should never have had to sue to protect essential health care like cancer screenings, STI tests, and birth control,” said Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at the ACLU of the District of Columbia. “Restoring funding is a victory, but the larger fight to protect everyone’s reproductive freedom continues.”
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent Wednesday, the AP indicated in a report.
The dispute took place following executive actions by President Donald Trump aimed at curbing programs that take race into account, some of which have been temporarily blocked by federal judges. Republicans have also repeatedly criticized the Title X family planning program, which sends hundreds of millions of dollars annually to clinics that provide contraception, cancer screenings and other services. While some of those clinics also offer abortions, federal law bars Title X funds from being used for most abortion procedures.
The program primarily serves low-income women, including many from minority communities. The ACLU said that when HHS withheld 22 Title X grants last spring, 865 family planning sites across nearly two dozen states were forced to suspend services for an estimated 842,000 patients.
Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, said the restoration of funding does not end the broader conflict.
“While funding has been restored, we know that the Trump administration will continue to attack reproductive freedom, and the ACLU will be ready to use every lever we have to fight those attacks and defend the Title X program,” she said.
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