The Biden-Harris administration has made it clear that abortion and access to the procedure are a top priority over virtually all other aspects of pregnancy and health care, and is willing to punish states that don't comply with their dictates by withholding critical federal grant funding.

Unfortunately, it appears that a majority of the Supreme Court is fine with that, as it declined to restore a $4.5 million family planning grant the administration withheld from Oklahoma over the state's strict anti-abortion laws, CBS News reported.

Just three of the high court's conservative-leaning justices indicated that they would have sided with Oklahoma and blocked the Biden-Harris administration from withholding the federal funds.

Abortion counseling and referrals and a national hotline

At issue here is a provision of Title X of the Public Health Service Act of 1970, according to SCOTUSblog, which provides states with federal grant funds for family planning services with an eligibility requirement that states provide pregnant women with counseling and referrals, if requested, for services including abortion, adoption, prenatal care, and other things.

Following the Dobbs decision that put states back in charge of regulating abortion, Oklahoma, like many other states, sharply restricted the procedure with few exceptions and even made it illegal to advise women on how and where to obtain an abortion, which runs afoul of the Title X requirement.

The Biden-Harris Department of Health and Human Services offered an ostensible compromise by suggesting that the state provide women with a national hotline number for abortions instead of counseling and referrals, but Oklahoma balked and argued that doing so would still violate the state law.

As a result of the impasse, HHS terminated the grant and Oklahoma responded with a lawsuit that sought an injunction to block that decision and force the federal agency to restore the previously approved funding.

Supreme Court declines to intervene

In federal court, Oklahoma argued that the Biden-Harris HHS had both exceeded its authority under Title X to withdraw the $4.5 million federal grant as well as that doing so violated what is known as the Weldon Amendment, which bars discrimination against health care providers who conscientiously object to providing certain services, including abortions.

A district court disagreed, however, and denied the state's request to restore the withheld funding, and a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals panel then upheld the lower court's ruling, which prompted an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court with a request for intervention before an Aug. 30 deadline.

Yet, in an unsigned order on Tuesday that contained no explanation for the decision, the Supreme Court said, "The application for writ of injunction presented to Justice Gorsuch and by him referred to the Court is denied."

The order added that Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch "would grant the application."

Similar situation in Tennessee

Meanwhile, CBS News reported that a similar dispute is playing out in Tennessee, where that state is also facing the HHS cancelation of a $7 million family planning grant over that state's objection to the requirement that it provide pregnant women with the national hotline number for abortions.

Thus far, a district court and a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals panel have declined Tennessee's request to block the Biden-Harris administration from withholding the funds.

Whether Tennessee tries its luck at attempting to convince the Supreme Court to reverse that decision following its refusal to intervene in Oklahoma's similar dispute remains to be seen.