Federal Judge Smacks Down Secretive Birth Control Access For Teens

(HorizonPost.com) – A Texas federal judge smacked down secretive birth control that teens could have accessed without the permission of their parents, according to The Hill. The birth control would have reportedly come from providers participating in a federal family planning program.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling means that teenagers receiving birth control from the Title X family planning program will no longer be able to do so without their parent’s permission. Kacsmaryk’s ruled that the Title X program, which also provides free cancer screenings, violated the constitutional right of parents to guide the upbringing of their children.

The Department of Health and Human Services alleges that its Title X program is the only one where people can access health care and education.

Kacsmaryk was nominated by former President Donald Trump in 2017 and confirmed in 2019. He was formerly an attorney for a Christian legal advocacy group that reportedly helped businesses fight contraceptive mandates.

“Opponents of reproductive rights are not satisfied with overturning Roe–they want to take away birth control from young people,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood. She called the care “essential,” saying that lives are being threatened as a result.

Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, alleges that the U.S. Constitution protects contraceptive access and that Kacsmaryk’s ruling is trying to undermine the foundation of that right.

The case was argued by Jonathan Mitchell, the former solicitor general of Texas. He reportedly authored the state’s abortion law that prohibited the practice after six weeks and allows private citizens to sue abortion clinic employees.

Mitchell represented Alex Deanda in the case, who said that he was raising his daughters in line with Christian teaching.

The attorney was also successful in arguing against ObamaCare’s mandate that employers must provide HIV prevention drugs to their workers.

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