National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association v. Kennedy

On March 31, 2025 — one day before Title X grants were set to be awarded — 16 program grantees were informed of HHS’s decision to withhold funds pending investigation. This decision is seemingly based on the grantees’ public statements supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and opposing racism, which HHS claims amount to a “possible violation” of federal civil rights law, and a desire to ensure the grantees’ compliance with an anti-immigration executive order (Executive Order 14218, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders”). Grantees were given only 10 days to produce extensive documentation from their service sites and subgrantees, and funding has yet to be released.

On behalf of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association and its members, ACLU and the ACLU of D.C. sued the Trump administration in April 2025. The lawsuit argued that HHS violated its own rules and a federal statute that together govern how HHS can ensure compliance with grant terms and federal civil rights laws. The lawsuit also argued that HHS acted arbitrarily and capriciously by, among other things:

• Providing no reasonable explanation or justification for its decision to select these grantees for fund withholding and investigation;
• Targeting the grantees based on statements that align with the requirements of the Title X program; and
• Suddenly departing from its own prior understanding of Title X and federal civil rights law, without any acknowledgment of or explanation for that departure.

In January 2026, NFPRHA voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit following the government's restoration of all Title X family planning grants that were the subject of NFPRHA's litigation.