Trump administration officials have told abortion opponents that they expected a number of legal challenges to the new family planning rule, which also prohibits federally funded family planning clinics from being housed in the same place as abortion providers.
Planned Parenthood and other groups representing the clinics say the physical separation of facilities would be costly and all but impossible to fulfill. Supporters of the rule, such as Californians for Life, expect funding for faith-based family planning organizations to increase.
Health and Human Services Department declined to comment, citing the litigation. The changes to the federal family planning program are scheduled to go into effect in May unless blocked in court.
California’s attorney general said the new rule affects 4 million mostly low-income women nationwide and 1 million women in California.
“The Trump-Pence administration has doubled down on its attacks on women’s health,” Becerra said.
The lawsuit in California is the latest of dozens of legal challenges that it and other states led by Democrats have filed in a bid to block Trump administration policies.
