Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office has spent more than $600,000 since November on legal costs for challenges that have failed to win back millions of dollars in federal family planning funding. 

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month ruled against Oklahoma’s efforts to stop the federal government from withholding the money. Oklahoma lost its federal Title X family planning funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2023 after failing to comply with a requirement to provide women with information about abortion. The Oklahoma Attorney General’s office isn’t done fighting for the lost federal money and plans to file another action at the U.S. Supreme Court, a spokesperson for the agency said.  

Money for legal fees in the case has come from a state fund intended to fight federal overreach. Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a law in 2021 creating a unit within the Attorney General’s office to push back against federal rules and regulations it deems unconstitutional. 

The Legislature has allocated as much as $10 million a year to the state agency for that purpose, a spokesperson for Drummond’s office said. About $8 million in unspent state appropriations from previous years have been transferred into a revolving fund for federal challenges. 

“Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on high-quality Oklahoma attorneys is a price easily worth paying when tens of millions of dollars for healthcare are potentially at stake,” Phil Bacharach, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office, said in an email. 

The Oklahoma State Department of Health had received federal Title X funding since 1971. The federal grant program gives states funding for confidential and low or no-cost family planning services and awarded Oklahoma $4.5 million in previous years. The State Department of Health used the money to provide services at county health clinics across the state. 

Records obtained by the Frontier show that the Attorney General’s office entered into contracts with Tulsa law firm Titus Hillis Reynolds Love and Spencer Fane, a national firm with an Oklahoma City office, in November 2023 to help build the state’s case against the federal government. 

The Attorney General’s office agreed to pay Titus Hillis Reynolds Love attorneys $150,000, and Spencer Fane attorneys $50,000 after the lawsuit was filed in federal court. Both firms’ lawyers have continued to be paid on an hourly basis since then, with attorneys paid up to $540 an hour. 

Oklahoma has instituted a near-total ban on abortion since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. The state subsequently lost its Title X family planning funding when federal officials said Oklahoma was out of compliance with rules requiring programs to provide women with counseling on all pregnancy options, including abortion. Oklahoma State Department of Health officials said it couldn’t refer women to a hotline that provides information on abortion, among other options. 

Attorneys for the state argued at the U.S. Supreme Court that an Oklahoma law from 1910 criminalizes advising or helping women to get abortions and blocks the State Department of Health from making hotline referrals. A federal rule also bans governmental agencies from discriminating against health care entities that don’t make referrals for abortions, the state claimed. 

State dollars are now filling in the gaps for lost federal money. The Legislature has allocated $4.5 million to the State Department of Health in the past two state budgets to continue some family planning services, but minors can no longer access confidential birth control, pregnancy testing and other services at county health departments. 

Last year, the federal government granted $3.3 million to the Missouri Family Health Council instead to coordinate Title X services in Oklahoma. Since then, the Missouri nonprofit has worked to build a network of Oklahoma organizations independent from county clinics. 

Planned Parenthood has started providing Title X services in Oklahoma and the Missouri Family Health Council has started on-boarding a few other clinics. But the council’s recruitment has been on pause given the uncertainty of the next year, said director Michelle Trupiano. She said the upcoming presidential election could bring Title X rule changes and shifts in funding with it. 

“We just approach it day by day and say ‘There are people that need services, and we’re going to do the best we can with the funds that we currently have to make sure people do not go without care,’” Trupiano said. 

Planned Parenthood Great Plains started offering Title X services in Edmond, Oklahoma City and Tulsa in January, said president Emily Wales. 

“It’s a commitment to the mission to say we’re going to take this on knowing that you don’t see a windfall from Title X,” Wales said. “It is about serving people who need you. It’s not necessarily about financial business sense, but we didn’t hesitate. When we knew that Oklahoma was not going to be providing it at the state level, there would be a gap, and we wanted to fill it.” 

Wales said she feels frustrated when she sees the state spend money on a legal battle against the federal government instead of more resources for families.

“This is really about information and providing patients with information about their options, as required by federal law,” Wales said. It’s not complicated. It shouldn’t be political. Patients should get the same information wherever they live, and that’s what Title X requires.”