Taking on Title X

Does a ruling by a Trump-nominated judge signal a new assault on the right to contraception?

-  EWAN PALMER

ABORTION RIGHTS GROUPS HAVE RAISED concerns that a Donald Trump-nominated federal judge approving an anti-contraception lawsuit is proof the GOP will go further restricting the procedure post Roe v. Wade.

Matthew Kacsmaryk, a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, recently issued a ruling in the case of Deanda v. Becerra, a lawsuit filed by a Christian father hoping to block the Title X federal program.

In his suit, Alexander Deanda argues that Title X, which makes federally funded family planning services available to anyone, including minors, violates his constitutional rights as a parent.

Deanda claims that as he is raising his children as Christians and they therefore should "practice abstinence and refrain from sexual intercourse until marriage," Title X interferes with the upbringing of his children. 

While the judge, who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2017, did not halt the program, he allowed both sides to present their arguments for what should happen next. Deanda's legal team have already signaled they will seek to temporarily shut down Title X while the case is being resolved, potentially putting young people's chance to access contraceptives in limbo while the case is being argued.

The opinion makes Kacsmaryk the first federal judge to approve a challenge to the right to contraception in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Abortion rights and pro-contraception groups say the ruling is proof that fears conservative judges will use the Supreme Court's overturning of the landmark abortion ruling to push forward with further restrictions are coming to fruition.