Becerra asks the 9th Circuit to reconsider federal rule barring abortion counseling

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is petitioning the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a June 20 order allowing the Trump administration to implement new Title X rules barring pre-pregnancy family planning services that receive federal funds from providing abortion counseling.

Judges on the motions panel that issued the ruling, the state said in a motion for en banc review, overstepped their bounds by releasing a published opinion addressing merits issues in the case.

The pur curiam order challenged by California was issued by Judges Edward Leavy, Consuelo M. Callahan and Carlos T. Bea, who said earlier this month the administration's return to a 1988 reading of the Public Health Service Act was a reasonable interpretation of the law. State of California v. Azar, 2019 DJDAR 54333, (9th Cir., June 20, 2019).

Becerra said in a press release Wednesday the decision, which stayed three separate district court injunction blocking the rules and now on appeal, would prohibit doctors and medical providers from providing factual information about abortion availability.

"If this Administration's unlawful Title X rule goes into effect, women's access to reproductive care including abortion will be compromised and our state's public health and fiscal integrity damaged," Becerra said.

Attorneys representing the federal government have not yet responded to the filing.

-- Nicolas Sonnenburg