The federal law prohibiting sex discrimination also bars colleges and universities from denying counseling and other services to abortion patients and contraception to all students — even in states where abortion is now severely restricted, the U.S. Education Department said Tuesday.

The , which clarifies the longstanding rules for federal Title IX funding that virtually all colleges and universities receive, comes as several states have moved to ban or greatly limit abortion. The federal insistence on compliance with the Title IX regulations appears to be in conflict with some state policies.

The University of Idaho, for example, issued a memo last month  not to provide reproductive health counseling or contraception in order to comply with a state law.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris singled out the University of Idaho during a public meeting of the White House Reproductive Rights Task Force on Tuesday.

“They told university staff they could get in trouble just for talking or telling students about birth control,” Biden said, referencing the memo. “Folks, what century are we in?”

Idaho is among the 13 states where nearly all abortions are illegal following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June that removed the nationwide right to an abortion, according to the reproductive rights policy research organization .

The Idaho Supreme Court  to hear oral arguments on the merits of three Idaho abortion laws.

The federal high court ruling “has sown fear and confusion on our college campuses,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said at the task force meeting.

Tuesday’s guidance was intended “to remind schools of their obligations under Title IX,” he added.

The department’s civil rights office  that a Utah community college violated Title IX by not making accommodations for a pregnant student and encouraging the student to drop a course because she was pregnant.

The University of Idaho memo said university employees could not provide patients with birth control or emergency contraception. The document referenced a 2021 law that bans public funding to “procure, counsel in favor, refer to or perform an abortion.”

Standard birth control can still be dispensed at student health facilities, whose workers are not employed by the university, according to the memo.

A spokeswoman for the university did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the Education Department guidance and Biden and Harris’ remarks.

Abortion bans have affected other health services, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday. Women have been denied prescriptions to treat miscarriage or conditions like arthritis and there are “threats to contraception,” including for college students, Jean-Pierre said.

Harris noted that 19th-century laws banning abortion in Arizona and Wisconsin have recently gone into effect.

Doctors testify

The White House task force outlined some dire consequences of state abortion bans.

In Wisconsin, the abortion ban is sending some patients to Minnesota and Illinois and leaving many who need care without access, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, a Green Bay OB-GYN, said.

And it’s had a chilling effect on abortion providers, who can now only perform an abortion when the mother’s life is at risk. But even the judgment required in that decision could scare doctors from performing a medically necessary procedure, she said.

“Pregnant people don’t have a warning light that comes on when they’ve crossed that threshold,” she said. “In places like Sheboygan County, where the district attorney has specifically said that he will prosecute physicians, can I count on him to trust my clinical judgment?”

Georgia OB-GYN Dr. Nisha Verma told the task force that she’s had to turn away patients with high-risk pregnancies or fetal abnormalities since that state’s six-week ban went into effect.

“Imagine looking someone in the eye and saying, ‘I have all the skills and the tools to help you. But our state’s politicians have told me I can’t,’” she said.

Appeal to Congress

Biden, Harris and Jean-Pierre all urged Congress to pass a law codifying a nationwide right to abortion.

“If there were a national law that was passed in the United States Congress to protect reproductive care, so-called (state) leaders could not ban abortion,” Harris said. “They could not criminalize providers. They could not limit access to contraception.”

Biden added that congressional Republicans would seek a nationwide abortion ban, alluding to South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill  to enact such a ban.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on and .

Two Ohio state House Republicans introduced legislation last week that would force school boards to disclose to parents all “sexually explicit content” taught in the classroom.

At parents’ request, teachers would need to provide students with alternative instruction that doesn’t include this sexually explicit content.

The — introduced by Republicans Sara Carruthers and D.J. Swearingen — defines sexually explicit content as any description of or any picture, drawing, film, image, or “similar visual representation” depicting sexual conduct.

The sponsors refused to specify what precisely they’re trying inform parents of that’s occurring in the classrooms.

The legislation also requires boards of education to notify students of any “change in the student’s services or monitoring” regarding their mental, emotional, or physical health and well-being. Likewise, it prohibits school personnel from “directly or indirectly encouraging” a student to withhold information from their parents regarding their mental or emotional health.

The legislation continues a pattern of Republican legislation on a state and national level seeking to restrict what’s taught in classrooms, especially as it relates to race relations, American history, gender, and sexual identity.

“I think the real issue here is just how vague the term ‘sexually explicit content’ is,” said Kathryn Poe, a public policy and digital communications manager with Equality Ohio, which advocates for LGBTQ interests.

Poe noted the bill makes no exception for health, biology or anatomy classes. The bill’s real point, Poe said, is to use the legislation’s vague language to chill speech about gender and sexuality in classrooms under guise of parental rights.

“We know who will be called out here — it’s LGBT people,” she said.

The newly introduced bill in Ohio is largely a copy of similar legislation recently in Virginia and Missouri. In Missouri, NPR the legislation goes as far as to criminalize teachers and librarians providing sexually explicit material to students, leaving librarians pulling books off the shelves to comply. A similar law passed the Pennsylvania Senate earlier this summer, to the Pennsylvania Capital Star.

Organizations representing the LGBTQ community in other states have also protested the legislation, arguing the laws are a means of marginalizing gay and lesbian voices and experiences in classrooms.

Some 36 states have introduced 137 bills designed to restrict teaching about race, gender, U.S. history and sexual identity, according to a from PEN America, which advocates for the freedom of expression in literature. Seven became law this year, and another 12 became law last year.

In Ohio, Republicans introduced , which forbids educators from teaching certain “divisive concepts” mostly related to race in America, past and present. Another, , includes the ‘divisive concept’ provisions but expands the proposal to also prohibit the teaching of “sexual orientation or gender identity” until it’s “age appropriate” (a point in time not specified by the legislation). Neither have passed as of yet.

The recent bill’s sponsors declined to specify what kinds of purported sexually explicit conduct or changes in student health monitoring they’re seeking to inform parents of. Instead, in a statement through an aide, they both said the legislation would bring teachers and parents together to “foster involvement.”

The General Assembly is set to return after the November elections to wrap up its legislative work before the term ends.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on and .