National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, Inc. v. Sullivan
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
979 F.2d 227 (D.C. Cir. 1992)
After the Supreme Court in Rust v. Sullivan upheld HHS's notice-and-comment "gag rule" barring Title X personnel from discussing abortion as a family-planning option, President Bush directed HHS not to apply the rule in ways that prevented doctors from giving patients abortion information, and HHS Secretary Louis Sullivan (defendant) issued internal directives to regional administrators implementing that change without new notice-and-comment rulemaking. National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association and other organizations (plaintiffs) sued, arguing the directives substantively changed the existing legislative rule and required notice-and-comment procedures under the APA; the district court agreed and enjoined the directives as procedurally improper, and HHS appealed.
Whether a federal agency that adopts a new construction of an existing legislative rule, substantially changing its effect on affected parties, must comply with the APA's notice-and-comment requirements.