Appeals court upholds Trump ban on abortion referrals by family planning clinics

A federal appeals court ruled on Monday in favor of a polarizing Trump administration policy that bans federally funded family planning centers from referring women for abortions.

The 7-4 decision by the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit delighted social conservatives who are central to President Trump’s political base. It infuriated civil libertarians, Planned Parenthood and other reproductive rights groups and more than 20 states that had filed lawsuits to try to block the rule.

The 82-page opinion dismissed the concerns of three lower courts on the West Coast that did not rule on the merits of the change in the family planning program, known as Title X, but which were leery enough of it that each issued an injunction last spring preventing it from taking effect.

Last summer, the 9th Circuit lifted those injunctions in California, Oregon and Washington state, allowing federal health officials to proceed with the policy.