Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 22 other states in suing to block new federal conditions on Title X family planning funding that support reproductive health care, cancer screenings, and other preventive services for millions of Americans.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, challenges a July funding notice from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requiring Title X applicants to align with a new set of political priorities to receive or keep federal funds, including eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and excluding transgender people from services. Health centers in Connecticut rely on $2.3 million annually in Title X funds to support family planning services for thousands of residents.

Tong said, "Donald Trump wants doctors and clinics to pass a MAGA purity test before they can treat patients and save lives. This is another ridiculous, unlawful and unnecessary move by this President to make us sicker and poorer, and we're suing to stop it."

The coalition argues the new HHS conditions conflict with Title X's governing statute, which requires providers to offer a broad range of contraceptive methods, provide nondirective counseling, and serve all patients in a nondiscriminatory manner. The states also argue HHS imposed the conditions without the notice-and-comment process required under the Administrative Procedure Act, and that the conditions are too vague for providers to determine compliance, violating the Constitution's Spending Clause.

The coalition is asking the court to declare the new conditions unlawful, block HHS from enforcing them, and preserve Title X funding access under the program's existing rules.

Title X, created in 1970 and run by the Office of Population Affairs within HHS, is the only federal program dedicated entirely to family planning and preventive health care for low-income and uninsured Americans, providing services including birth control counseling, sexually transmitted infection testing, cancer screenings, and pregnancy testing.