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FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

STATE OF CALIFORNIA, by
and through Attorney General
Xavier Becerra,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
ALEX M. AZAR II, in his
Official Capacity as Secretary
of the U.S. Department of
Health & Human Services;
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES,
Defendants-Appellants.

No. 19-15974
D.C. No.
3:19-cv-01184-EMC

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STATE OF CALIFORNIA V. AZAR

ESSENTIAL ACCESS HEALTH,
INC.; MELISSA MARSHALL,
M.D.,
Plaintiffs-Appellees,

No. 19-15979
D.C. No.
3:19-cv-01195-EMC

v.
ALEX M. AZAR II, Secretary
of U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services; UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES,
Defendants-Appellants.

STATE OF OREGON; STATE OF
NEW YORK; STATE OF
COLORADO; STATE OF
CONNECTICUT; STATE OF
DELAWARE; DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA; STATE OF
HAWAII; STATE OF ILLINOIS;
STATE OF MARYLAND;
COMMONWEALTH OF
MASSACHUSETTS; STATE OF
MICHIGAN; STATE OF
MINNESOTA; STATE OF
NEVADA; STATE OF NEW
JERSEY; STATE OF NEW
MEXICO; STATE OF NORTH
CAROLINA; COMMONWEALTH
OF PENNSYLVANIA; STATE OF
RHODE ISLAND; STATE OF

No. 19-35386
D.C. Nos.
6:19-cv-00317-MC
6:19-cv-00318-MC

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STATE OF CALIFORNIA V. AZAR
VERMONT; COMMONWEALTH
OF VIRGINIA; STATE OF
WISCONSIN; AMERICAN
MEDICAL ASSOCIATION;
OREGON MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION; PLANNED
PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF
AMERICA, INC.; PLANNED
PARENTHOOD OF
SOUTHWESTERN OREGON;
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
COLUMBIA WILLAMETTE;
THOMAS N. EWING, M.D.;
MICHELE P. MEGREGIAN,
C.N.M.,
Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
ALEX M. AZAR II; UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES; DIANE FOLEY;
OFFICE OF POPULATION
AFFAIRS,
Defendants-Appellants.

3

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STATE OF CALIFORNIA V. AZAR

STATE OF WASHINGTON;
NATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING
AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
ASSOCIATION; FEMINIST
WOMEN'S HEALTH CENTER;
DEBORAH OYER, M.D.;
TERESA GALL,
Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.

No. 19-35394
D.C. Nos.
1:19-cv-03040-SAB
1:19-cv-03045-SAB

ORDER ON MOTIONS
FOR STAY PENDING
APPEAL

ALEX M. AZAR II, in his
official capacity as Secretary
of the United States
Department of Health and
Human Services; UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES; DIANE FOLEY,
MD, in her official capacity
as Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Population
Affairs; OFFICE OF
POPULATION AFFAIRS,
Defendants-Appellants.
Filed June 20, 2019
Before: Edward Leavy, Consuelo M. Callahan,
and Carlos T. Bea, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam Order

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STATE OF CALIFORNIA V. AZAR

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SUMMARY *

Civil Rights
The panel granted the United States Department of
Health and Human Services’ motion for a stay pending
appeal of three preliminary injunction orders issued by
district courts in three states which enjoined from going into
effect the 2019 revised regulations to Title X of the Public
Health Service Act, pertaining to pre-pregnancy family
planning services.
In 1970, Congress enacted Title X to create a limited
grant program for certain types of pre-pregnancy family
planning services. Section 1008 of Title X provides that
none on the funds appropriated under the subchapter shall be
used in programs where abortion is a method of family
planning. In 1988, the Department of Health and Human
Service promulgated regulations forbidding Title X grantees
from providing counseling or referrals for, or otherwise
encouraging, promoting, or advocating abortion as a method
of family planning. Several years later, the Department
suspended the 1988 regulations and promulgated new Title
X regulations, which re-interpreted § 1008 as requiring,
among other things, that Title X grantees provide
“nondirective” abortion counseling and abortion referrals
upon request. In 2019, the Department once again revised
its Title X regulations, promulgating regulatory language
(the “Final Rule”) that substantially reverted back to the
1988 regulations. A group of state governments and existing
*

This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It
has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.

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STATE OF CALIFORNIA V. AZAR

Title X grantees challenged the Final Rule in federal court in
three states (California, Washington and Oregon), and
sought preliminary injunctive relief. The district courts in
all three states granted plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction
motions on nearly identical grounds. The Department
appealed and sought to stay the injunctions pending a
decision of the merits of its appeals.
The panel first noted that the Final Rule was a reasonable
interpretation of § 1008. The panel further stated that the
Supreme Court’s decision in Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173
(1991), largely foreclosed any attempt to argue that the Final
Rule was not a reasonable interpretation of the text of
§ 1008. The panel rejected the district courts’ conclusions
that two intervening laws, a Health and Human Services
appropriations rider and an ancillary provision of the
Affordable Care Act, Title I § 1554, rendered the Final Rule
invalid. The panel concluded that neither law impliedly
repealed or amended § 1008. The panel further held that
Final Rule’s counseling and referral requirements was not in
conflict with the appropriations rider’s nondirective
pregnancy counseling mandate. Finally, the panel held that
even if plaintiffs properly preserved their Affordable Care
Act challenge, it was likely that § 1554 did not affect
§ 1008’s prohibition on funding programs where abortion
was a method of family planning.
The panel held that, in light of the narrow permissible
scope of the district court’s review of the Department’s
reasoning under the arbitrary and capricious standard, the
Department was likely to prevail on its argument that the
district court erred in concluding that the Final Rule’s
enactment violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

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The panel held that the remaining factors also favored a
stay pending appeal, noting that the Department and the
public at large are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the
absence of a stay, which were comparatively greater than the
harms plaintiffs were likely to suffer.

COUNSEL
Jaynie Lilley, Katherine Allen, and Michael S. Raab,
Appellate Staff; Brinton Lucas, Senior Counsel; Hashim M.
Mooppan, Deputy Assistant Attorney General; Joseph H.
Hunt, Assistant Attorney General; for DefendantsAppellants.
Anna Rich, Ketakee Kane, and Brenda Ayon Verduzco,
Deputy Attorneys General; Kathleen Boergers, Supervising
Deputy Attorney General; Michael L. Newman, Senior
Assistant Attorney General; Xavier Becerra, Attorney
General; Office of the Attorney General, Oakland,
California; for Plaintiff-Appellee State of California.
Michelle Ybarra, Sarah Salomon, Sophie Hood, and Justine
Sessions, Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP, San Francisco,
California, for Plaintiffs-Appellees. Essential Access
Health, Inc. and Melissa Marshall, M.D.
Judith N. Vale, Senior Assistant Solicitor General; Barbara
D. Underwood, Solicitor General; Letitia James, Attorney
General; Office of the Attorney General, Albany, New York;
Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General; Jona J. Maukonen,
Senior Assistant Attorney General; Ellen F. Rosenblum,
Attorney General; Office of the Attorney General, Salem,
Oregon; Phil Weiser, Attorney General, State of Colorado;
William Tong, Attorney General, State of Connecticut;

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STATE OF CALIFORNIA V. AZAR

Kathy Jennings, Attorney General, State of Delaware; Karl
A. Racine, Attorney General, District of Columbia; Clare E.
Connors, Attorney General, State of Hawaii; Kwame Raoul,
Attorney General, State of Illinois; Brian E. Frosh, Attorney
General, State of Maryland; Maura Healey, Attorney
General, Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Dana Nessel,
Attorney General, State of Michigan; Keith Ellison,
Attorney General, State of Minnesota; Aaron Ford, Attorney
General, State of Nevada; Gurbir Singh Grewal, Attorney
General, State of New Jersey; Hector Balderas, Attorney
General, State of New Mexico; Josh Stein, Attorney
General, State of North Carolina; Josh Shapiro, Attorney
General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Peter F. Neronha,
Attorney General, State of Rhode Island; T.J. Donovan,
Attorney General, State of Vermont; Mark R. Herring,
Attorney General, Commonwealth of Virginia; Josh Kaul,
Attorney General, State of Wisconsin; for PlaintiffsAppellees State of Oregon, State of New York, State of
Colorado, State of Connecticut, State of Delaware, District
of Columbia, State of Hawaii, State of Illinois, State of
Maryland, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State of
Michigan, State of Minnesota, State of Nevada, State of New
Jersey, State of New Mexico, State of North Carolina,
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State of Rhode Island,
State of Vermont, Commonwealth of Virginia, and State of
Wisconsin.
Alan E. Schoenfeld, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
LLP, New York, New York; Joshua M. Koppel, Albinas J.
Prizgintas, Kimberly A. Parker, and Paul R.Q. Wolfson,
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Washington,
D.C.; Kennon Scott, Per A. Ramfjord, and Jeremy D. Sacks,
Stoel Rives LLP, Portland, Oregon; Erin G. Sutton, Leonard
A. Nelson, and Brian D. Vandenberg, Office of General
Counsel, American Medical Association, Chicago, Illinois;

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Mark Bonnano, General Counsel, Oregon Medical
Association, Portland, Oregon; Carri Y. Flaxman and
Helene T. Krasnoff, Planned Parenthood Federation of
America Inc., Washington, D.C.; for Plaintiffs-Appellees
American Medical Association; Oregon Medical
Association; Planned Parenthood Federation of America,
Inc.; Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon; Planned
Parenthood Columbia Willamette; Thomas N. Ewing, M.D.;
Michele P. Megregian, C.N.M.
Kristin Beneski, Paul M. Crisalli, and Jeffrey T. Sprung,
Assistant Attorneys General; Norah G. Purcell, Solicitor
General; Robert Ferguson, Attorney General; Office of the
Attorney General, Seattle, Washington; for PlaintiffAppellee State of Washington
Fiona Kaye, Brigitte Amiri, Elizabeth Deutsch, Anjali Dalal,
and Ruth E. Harlow, American Civil Liberties Union
Foundation; Emily Chiang, American Civil Liberties Union
Foundation of Washington; Joe Shaeffer, MacDonald
Hoague & Bayless, Seattle, Washington; Brandon D.
Harper, Jennifer B. Sokoler, and Nicole M. Argentieri,
O’Melveny & Myers LLP, New York, New York; Sara
Zdeb, O’Melveny & Myers LLP, Washington, D.C.; for
Plaintiffs-Appellees National Family Planning and
Reproductive Health Association, Feminist Women's Health
Center. Deborah Oyer M.D., and Teresa Gall.

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ORDER

PER CURIAM:
BACKGROUND
In 1970, Congress enacted Title X of the Public Health
Service Act (“Title X”) to create a limited grant program for
certain types of pre-pregnancy family planning services. See
Pub. L. No. 91-572, 84 Stat. 1504 (1970). Section 1008 of
Title X, which has remained unchanged since its enactment,
is titled “Prohibition of Abortion,” and provides:
None of the funds appropriated under this
subchapter shall be used in programs where
abortion is a method of family planning.
42 U.S.C. § 300a-6.
In 1988, the Department of Health and Human Services
(“HHS”) explained that it “interpreted [§] 1008 . . . as
prohibiting Title X projects from in any way promoting or
encouraging abortion as a method of family planning,” and
“as requiring that the Title X program be ‘separate and
distinct’ from any abortion activities of a grantee.” 53 Fed.
Reg. at 2923. Accordingly, HHS promulgated regulations
forbidding Title X grantees from providing counseling or
referrals for, or otherwise encouraging, promoting, or
advocating abortion as a method of family planning. Id.
at 2945.
To prevent grantees from evading these
restrictions, the regulations placed limitations on the list of
medical providers that a program must offer patients as part
of a required referral for prenatal care. See id. Such a list
was required to exclude providers whose principal business
is the provision of abortions, had to include providers who
do not provide abortions, and could not weigh in favor of

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providers who perform abortions. Id. at 2945. The
regulations also required grantees to keep their Title X
funded projects “physically and financially separate” from
all abortion-related services that the grantee might also
provide (the “physical-separation” requirement). Id.
In 1991, the Supreme Court upheld the 1988 regulations
against a challenge in Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173 (1991).
Rust held that § 1008 of Title X was ambiguous as to
whether grantees could counsel abortion as a family
planning option and make referrals to abortion providers. Id.
at 184. Applying deference under Chevron, USA, Inc. v.
Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837,
842–43 (1984), the Supreme Court found that the 1988
regulations were a permissible interpretation of § 1008. Id.
at 184–85. The Supreme Court also held that the 1988
regulations were not arbitrary or capricious because the
regulations were justified by “reasoned analysis,” that the
regulations were consistent with the plain language of Title
X, and that they did not violate the First or Fifth
Amendments. Id. at 198–201.
Several years later (and under a new presidential
administration), HHS suspended the 1988 regulations.
58 Fed. Reg. 7455 (1993). HHS finally promulgated new
Title X regulations in 2000, which re-interpreted § 1008 as
requiring Title X grantees to provide “nondirective” 1
abortion counseling and abortion referrals upon request.
65 Fed. Reg. 41270–79.
The 2000 regulations also
1
Under the 2000 regulations, “nondirective” counseling meant the
provision of “factual, neutral information about any option, including
abortion, as [medical providers] consider warranted by the
circumstances, . . . [without] steer[ing] or direct[ing] clients toward
selecting any option.” 65 Fed. Reg. 41270–01.

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eliminated the 1988
requirement. Id.

regulations’ physical-separation

In 2019, HHS once again revised its Title X regulations,
promulgating regulatory language (the “Final Rule”) that
substantially reverts back to the 1988 regulations. 84 Fed.
Reg. 7714. Under the Final Rule, Title X grantees are
prohibited from providing referrals for, and from engaging
in activities that otherwise encourage or promote, abortion
as a method of family planning. Id. at 7788–90. Providers
are required to refer pregnant women to a non-abortion prenatal care provider, and may also provide women with a list
of other providers (which may not be composed of more
abortion providers than non-abortion providers). See id.
at 7789. Notably, however, the Final Rule is less restrictive
than the 1988 regulations: it allows (but does not require) the
neutral presentation of abortion information during
nondirective pregnancy counseling in Title X programs. Id.
The Final Rule also revives the 1988 regulations’ physicalseparation requirement, imposes limits on which medical
professionals can provide pregnancy counseling, clarifies
the previous requirement that family planning methods be
“medically approved,” and creates a requirement that
providers encourage family participation in decisions. Id.
at 7789.
The Final Rule was scheduled to take effect on May 3,
2019, although grantees would have until March 4, 2020, to
comply with the physical-separation requirement. Id.
at 7714. But a group of state governments and existing Title
X grantees (“Plaintiffs”) challenged the Final Rule in federal
court in three states (California, Washington, and Oregon),
and sought preliminary injunctive relief. The district courts
in all three states granted Plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction
motions on nearly identical grounds. See Washington v.

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Azar, 19-cv-3040, 2019 WL 1868632 (E.D. Wash. Apr. 25,
2019); Oregon v. Azar, 19-cv-317, 2019 WL 1897475 (D.
Oregon Apr. 29, 2019); California v. Azar, 19-cv-1184, 19cv-1195, 2019 WL 1877392 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 26, 2019). As
a result of the three preliminary injunctions, the Final Rule
has not gone into effect.
HHS appealed all three preliminary injunction orders to
this court, and filed motions to stay the injunctions pending
a decision on the merits of its appeals. Because the three
motions for a stay pending appeal present nearly identical
issues, we consider all three motions jointly.
ANALYSIS
In ruling on a stay motion, we are guided by four factors:
“(1) whether the stay applicant has made a strong showing
that he is likely to succeed on the merits; (2) whether the
applicant will be irreparably injured absent a stay;
(3) whether issuance of the stay will substantially injure the
other parties interested in the proceeding; and (4) where the
public interest lies.” Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418, 434
(2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). Although review
of a district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction is for
abuse of discretion, Southwest Voter Registration Education
Project v. Shelley, 344 F.3d 914, 918 (9th Cir. 2003), “[a]
district court by definition abuses its discretion when it
makes an error of law,” Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81,
100 (1996).
I.
We conclude that the Government is likely to prevail on
its challenge to the district courts’ preliminary injunctions
based on their findings that the Final Rule is likely invalid as

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both contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious under
5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A).
As a threshold matter, we note that the Final Rule is a
reasonable interpretation of § 1008. Congress enacted
§ 1008 to ensure that “[n]one of the funds appropriated under
this subchapter shall be used in programs where abortion is
a method of family planning.” 42 U.S.C. § 300a-6. If a
program promotes, encourages, or advocates abortion as a
method of family planning, or if the program refers patients
to abortion providers for family planning purposes, then that
program is logically one “where abortion is a method of
family planning.”
Accordingly, the Final Rule’s
prohibitions on advocating, encouraging, or promoting
abortion, as well as on referring patients for abortions, are
reasonable and in accord with § 1008. Indeed, the Supreme
Court has held that § 1008 “plainly allows” such a
construction of the statute. Rust, 500 U.S. at 184 (upholding
as a reasonable interpretation of § 1008 regulations that
(1) prohibited abortion referrals and counseling, (2) required
referrals for prenatal care, (3) placed restrictions on referral
lists, (4) prohibited promoting, encouraging, or advocating
abortion, and (5) mandated financial and physical separation
of Title X projects from abortion-related activities). The text
of § 1008 has not changed.
II.
Because Rust largely forecloses any attempt to argue that
the Final Rule is not a reasonable interpretation of the text of
§ 1008, the district courts instead relied on two purportedly
intervening laws that they say likely render the Final Rule
“not in accordance with law.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). The
first is an “appropriations rider” that Congress has included
in every HHS appropriations act since 1996. The 2018
version states:

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For carrying out the program under [T]itle X
of the PHS Act to provide for voluntary
family planning projects, $286,479,000:
Provided, [t]hat amounts provided to said
projects under such title shall not be
expended for abortions, that all pregnancy
counseling shall be nondirective, and that
such amounts shall not be expended for any
activity (including the publication or
distribution of literature) that in any way
tends to promote public support or opposition
to any legislative proposal or candidate for
public office.
132 Stat 2981, 3070–71 (2018) (emphasis added). The
second is an ancillary provision of the Affordable Care Act
(ACA), located within a subchapter of the law entitled
“Miscellaneous Provisions,” which reads:
Notwithstanding any other provision of this
Act, the Secretary of Health and Human
Services shall not promulgate any regulation
that—
(1) creates any unreasonable barriers to the
ability of individuals to obtain appropriate
medical care;
(2) impedes timely access to health care
services;
(3) interferes with communications regarding
a full range of treatment options between the
patient and the provider;

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(4) restricts the ability of health care
providers to provide full disclosure of all
relevant information to patients making
health care decisions;
(5) violates the principles of informed
consent and the ethical standards of health
care professionals; or
(6) limits the availability of health care
treatment for the full duration of a patient’s
medical needs.

Pub. L. No. 111-148, title I, § 1554 (42 U.S.C. § 18114)
(“§ 1554”).
These two provisions could render the Final Rule “not in
accordance with law” only by impliedly repealing or
amending § 1008, or by directly contravening the Final
Rule’s regulatory provisions.
First, we conclude that neither law impliedly repealed or
amended § 1008. See Nat’l Ass’n of Home Builders v. Defs.
of Wildlife, 551 U.S. 644, 663 (2007) (“[E]very amendment
of a statute effects a partial repeal to the extent that the new
statutory command displaces earlier, inconsistent
commands.”). “[R]epeals by implication are not favored and
will not be presumed unless the intention of the legislature
to repeal is clear and manifest.” Id. at 662 (internal quotation
marks and alterations omitted); United States v. Madigan,
300 U.S. 500, 506 (1937) (“[T]he modification by
implication of the settled construction of an earlier and
different section is not favored.”). Indeed, “[w]e will not
infer a statutory repeal unless the later statute expressly
contradict[s] the original act or unless such a construction is

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absolutely necessary . . . in order that [the] words [of the
later statute] shall have any meaning at all.” Nat’l Ass’n of
Home Builders, 551 U.S. at 662.
Plaintiffs admit that there is no irreconcilable conflict
between § 1008 and either the appropriations rider or § 1554
of the ACA. E.g., California State Opposition to Motion for
Stay at p. 14; Essential Access Opposition to Motion for Stay
at p.14. And we discern no “clear and manifest” intent by
Congress to amend or repeal § 1008 via either of these
laws—indeed, neither law even refers to § 1008. The
appropriations rider mentions abortion only to prohibit
appropriated funds from being expended for abortions; and
§ 1554 of the ACA does not even mention abortion.
As neither statute impliedly amended or repealed § 1008,
the question is therefore whether the Final Rule is
nonetheless “not in accordance with law” because its
provisions are incompatible with the appropriations rider or
§ 1554 of the ACA. 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). We think that
HHS is likely to succeed on its challenge to the district
courts’ preliminary injunctions because the Final Rule is not
contrary to either provision.
The appropriations rider conditions HHS funding on a
requirement that no Title X funds be expended on abortion,
and that “all pregnancy counseling shall be nondirective.”
Pub. L. No. 115-245, div. B, tit. II, 132 Stat 2981, 3070–71
(2018). (The plain text of the rider actually seems to
reinforce § 1008’s restrictions on funding abortion-related
activities.)
The district courts held that the Final Rule’s counseling
and referral requirements directly conflicted with the
appropriations rider’s “nondirective” mandate. But its
mandate is not that nondirective counseling be given in

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every case. It is that such counseling as is given shall be
nondirective. The Final Rule similarly does not require that
any pregnancy counseling be given, only that if given, such
counseling shall be nondirective (and may include neutrallypresented information about abortion). 84 Fed. Reg. 7716
(“Under the [F]inal [R]ule, the Title X regulations no longer
require pregnancy counseling, but permits the use of Title X
funds in programs that provide pregnancy counseling, so
long as it is nondirective.”). The Final Rule is therefore not
in conflict with the appropriations rider’s nondirective
pregnancy counseling mandate.
Although the Final Rule does require the provision of
referrals to non-abortion providers, id. at 7788–90, such
referrals do not constitute “pregnancy counseling.” First,
providing a referral is not “counseling.” HHS has defined
“nondirective counseling” as “the meaningful presentation
of options where the [medical professional] is not suggesting
or advising one option over another,” 84 Fed. Reg. at 7716,
whereas a “referral” involves linking a patient to another
provider who can give further counseling or treatment, id.
at 7748. The Final Rule treats referral and counseling as
distinct terms, as has Congress and HHS under previous
administrations. See, e.g., 42 U.S.C. § 300z-10; 53 Fed.
Reg. at 2923; 2928–38 (1988); 65 Fed. Reg. 41272–75
(2000). We therefore conclude that the Final Rule’s referral
requirement is not contrary to the appropriations rider’s
nondirective pregnancy counseling mandate. 2

2

But to the extent there is any ambiguity, “when reviewing an
agency’s statutory interpretation under the APA’s ‘not in accordance
with law’ standard, . . . [we] adhere to the familiar two-step test of
Chevron.” Nw. Envtl. Advocates v. U.S. E.P.A., 537 F.3d 1006, 1014 (9th
Cir. 2008). Applying Chevron deference, we would conclude that

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But even if referrals are included under the rubric of
“pregnancy counseling,” it is not clear that referring a patient
to a non-abortion doctor is necessarily “directive.”
Nondirective counseling does not require equal treatment of
all pregnancy options—rather, it just requires that a provider
not affirmatively endorse one option over another. 84 Fed.
Reg. at 7716. When Congress wants specific pregnancy
options to be given equal treatment, it knows how to say so
explicitly. For example, Congress has mandated that
“adoption information and referrals” shall be provided “on
an equal basis with all other courses of action included in
nondirective counseling.”
42 U.S.C. § 254c-6(a)(1)
(emphasis added). If “nondirective” already meant that all
pregnancy options (including adoption) shall be given equal
treatment, it would render meaningless Congress’s explicit
instruction that adoption be treated on an equal basis with
other pregnancy options. “[C]ourts avoid a reading that
renders some words altogether redundant.” Scalia, Antonin,
and Garner, Bryan A., Reading Law: The Interpretation of
Legal Texts (2012) 176. Congress has enacted no such
statutory provision explicitly requiring the equal treatment
of abortion in pregnancy counseling and referrals. 3
We next consider § 1554 of the ACA. As a threshold
matter, it seems likely that any challenge to the Final Rule
HHS’s treatment of counseling and referral as distinct concepts is a
reasonable interpretation of the applicable statutes.
3

But as discussed above, to the extent there is any ambiguity as to
whether the appropriation rider’s nondirective mandate means that Title
X grantees must be allowed to provide referrals to abortion providers on
an equal basis with non-abortion providers, we would defer to HHS’s
reasonable interpretation under Chevron that referral to non-abortion
providers is consistent with the provision of nondirective pregnancy
counseling.

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relying on § 1554 is waived because Plaintiffs concede that
HHS was not put on notice of this specific challenge during
the public comment period, such that HHS did not have an
“opportunity to consider the issue.” Portland Gen. Elec. Co.
v. Bonneville Power Admin., 501 F.3d 1009, 1024 (9th Cir.
2007) (“The waiver rule protects the agency’s prerogative to
apply its expertise, to correct its own errors, and to create a
record for our review.”). Although some commenters stated
that the proposed Final Rule was contrary to the ACA
generally, and still others used generic language similar to
that contained in § 1554, preservation of a challenge requires
that the “specific argument” must “be raised before the
agency, not merely the same general legal issue.” Koretoff
v. Vilsack, 707 F.3d 394, 398 (D.C. Cir. 2013) (per curiam).
Although “agencies are required to ensure that they have
authority to issue a particular regulation,” they “have no
obligation to anticipate every conceivable argument about
why they might lack such statutory authority.” Id. at 398.
But even if this challenge were preserved, it seems likely
that § 1554 does not affect § 1008’s prohibition on funding
programs where abortion is a method of family planning.
Section 1554 prohibits “creat[ing] any unreasonable barriers
to the ability of individuals to obtain appropriate medical
care,” “imped[ing] timely access to health care services,”
“interfer[ing] with communications regarding a full range of
treatment options between the patient and the provider,”
“restrict[ing] the ability of health care providers to provide
full disclosure of all relevant information to patients making
health care decisions,” “violat[ing] the principles of
informed consent and the ethical standards of health care
professionals,” and “limit[ing] the availability of health care
treatment for the full duration of a patient’s medical needs.”
42 U.S.C. § 18114. But as the Supreme Court noted in Rust,
there is a clear distinction between affirmatively impeding

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or interfering with something, and refusing to subsidize it.
Rust, 500 U.S. at 200–01. In holding that the 1988
regulations did not violate the Fifth Amendment, the
Supreme Court reasoned that “[t]he Government has no
constitutional duty to subsidize an activity merely because
the activity is constitutionally protected,” and that the
Government “may validly choose to fund childbirth over
abortion and implement that judgment by the allocation of
public funds for medical services relating to childbirth but
not to those relating to abortion.” Id. at 201. The
Government’s “decision to fund childbirth but not abortion
places no governmental obstacle in the path of a woman who
chooses to terminate her pregnancy, but rather, by means of
unequal subsidization of abortion and other medical
services, encourages alternative activity deemed in the
public interest.” Id. (internal quotations and citations
omitted). Indeed, the Supreme Court has recognized that
“[t]he difficulty that a woman encounters when a Title X
project does not provide abortion counseling or referral
leaves her in no different position than she would have been
if the Government had not enacted Title X.” Id. at 202.
Rust’s reasoning is equally applicable to counter the district
courts’ conclusions that the Final Rule is invalidated by
§ 1554. Title X is a limited grant program focused on
providing pre-pregnancy family planning services—it does
not fund medical care for pregnant women. The Final Rule
can reasonably be viewed as a choice to subsidize certain
medical services and not others. 4

4

The preamble to § 1554 also suggests that this section was not
intended to restrict HHS interpretations of provisions outside the ACA.
If Congress intended § 1554 to have sweeping effects on all HHS
regulations, even those unrelated to the ACA, it would have stated that
§ 1554 applies “notwithstanding any other provision of law,” rather than

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III.

The district courts also held that the Final Rule likely
violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)’s
prohibition on “arbitrary and capricious” regulations.
5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). “‘Arbitrary and capricious’ review
under the APA focuses on the reasonableness of an agency’s
decision-making process.” CHW W. Bay v. Thompson,
246 F. 3d 1218, 1223 (9th Cir. 2001) (emphasis in original).
But “[t]he scope of review under the ‘arbitrary and
capricious’ standard is narrow and a court is not to substitute
its judgment for that of the agency.” Vehicle Mfrs. Ass’n of
U.S., Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43
(1983). We think that is precisely what the district courts
did.
To find that the Final Rule’s enactment was arbitrary and
capricious, the district courts generally ignored HHS’s
explanations, reasoning, and predictions whenever they
disagreed with the policy conclusions that flowed therefrom.
For example, with respect to the physical separation
requirement, the district courts ignored HHS’s reasoning for
its re-imposition of that requirement (which was approved
by Rust): that physical separation would ensure that Title X
funds are not used to subsidize abortions via co-location of
Title X programs in abortion clinics. See 84 Fed. Reg.
at 7763–68. HHS’s reasoning included citation to data
suggesting “that abortions are increasingly performed at
sites that focus primarily on contraceptive and family
“[n]otwithstanding any other provision of this Act.” See, e.g., Andreiu v.
Ashcroft, 253 F.3d 477, 482 (9th Cir. 2001) (holding that the phrase
“notwithstanding any other provision of law” in 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(2)
meant that the provision “trumps any contrary provision elsewhere in the
law”).

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planning services—sites that could be recipients of Title X
funds.” Id. at 7765. Similarly, the district courts ignored
HHS’s primary reasoning for prohibiting abortion
counseling and referrals: that such restrictions are required
by HHS’s reasonable reading of § 1008 (again, approved by
Rust). Id. at 7746–47. Further, the district courts ignored
HHS’s consideration of the effects that the Final Rule would
likely have on the number of Title X providers, and credited
Plaintiffs’ speculation that the Final Rule would “decimate”
the Title X provider network, rather than HHS’s
prediction—based on evidence cited in the administrative
record—“that honoring statutory protections of conscience
in Title X may increase the number of providers in the
program,” by attracting new providers who were previously
deterred from participating in the program by the former
requirement to provide abortion referrals. See id. at 7780.
Such predictive judgments “are entitled to particularly
deferential review.” Trout Unlimited v. Lohn, 559 F.3d 946,
959 (9th Cir. 2009). With respect to the Final Rule’s
definition of “advanced practice provider,” and its provision
on whether family planning methods must be “medically
approved,” HHS reasoned that these provisions would
clarify subjects that had caused confusion in the past.
84 Fed. Reg. at 7727–28, 32. Although the district courts
insist that HHS failed to consider that the Final Rule requires
providers to violate medical ethics, HHS did consider and
respond to comments arguing just that. See id. at 7724,
7748. HHS similarly considered the costs of compliance
with the Final Rule. Id. at 7780.
In light of the narrow permissible scope of the district
court’s review of HHS’s reasoning under the arbitrary and
capricious standard, we conclude that HHS is likely to
prevail on its argument that the district court erred in

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concluding that the Final Rule’s enactment violated the
APA. 5
IV.
The remaining factors also favor a stay pending appeal.
HHS and the public at large are likely to suffer irreparable
harm in the absence of a stay, which are comparatively
greater than the harms Plaintiffs are likely to suffer.
Absent a stay, HHS will be forced to allow taxpayer
dollars to be spent in a manner that it has concluded violates
the law, as well as the Government’s important policy
interest (recognized by Congress in § 1008) in ensuring that
taxpayer dollars do not go to fund or subsidize abortions. As
the Supreme Court held in Rust, “the government may ‘make
a value judgment favoring childbirth over abortion, and . . .
implement that judgment by the allocation of public funds,”
and by “declining to ‘promote or encourage abortion.’”
Rust, 500 U.S. at 193. Additionally, forcing HHS to wait
until the conclusion of a potentially lengthy appeals process
to implement the Final Rule will necessarily result in
predictable administrative costs, and will beget significant
uncertainty in the Title X program.
The harms that Plaintiffs would likely suffer if a stay is
granted are comparatively minor. The main potential harms
that Plaintiffs identify are based on their prediction that
implementation of the Final Rule will cause an immediate
5
The district court in Washington also briefly stated that the Final
Rule was likely invalid because it “violates the central purpose of Title
X, which is to equalize access to comprehensive, evidence-based, and
voluntary family planning.” Washington Preliminary Injunction Order
at 15. But this conclusion is foreclosed by the existence of § 1008, and
by the Supreme Court’s contrary finding in Rust.

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and steep decline in the number of Title X providers. But
these potential harms obviously rely on crediting Plaintiffs’
predictions about the effect of implementing the Final Rule,
over HHS’s predictions that implementation of the final rule
will have the opposite effect. As described above, we think
that HHS’s predictions—supported by reasoning and
evidence in the record (84 Fed. Reg. at 7780)—is entitled to
more deference than Plaintiffs’ contrary predictions. While
some Title X grantees will certainly incur financial costs
associated with complying with the Final Rule if the
preliminary injunctions are stayed, we think that harm is
minor relative to the harms to the Government described
above.
V.
Because HHS and the public interest would be
irreparably harmed absent a stay, harms to Plaintiffs from a
stay will be comparatively minor, and HHS is likely to
prevail in its challenge of the preliminary injunction orders
before a merits panel of this court (which is set to hear the
cases on an expedited basis), we conclude that a stay of the
district courts’ preliminary injunction orders pending appeal
is proper.
The motion for a stay pending appeal is GRANTED.