Court allows Trump-backed cuts to Planned Parenthood's Medicaid funding in 22 states

By Nate Raymond

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump's administration to enforce in several Democratic-led states a provision of his signature tax and domestic policy bill that deprives Planned Parenthood health centers that perform abortions of Medicaid funding.

A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at the administration's request put on hold an injunction issued by a lower-court judge who barred the law from being enforced in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

It marked the latest instance of the appeals court lifting an order by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani blocking the law's enforcement, after the 1st Circuit on December 12 overturned a ruling she issued in another case brought by Planned Parenthood holding the law violated the U.S. Constitution.

In a statement, a spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the ruling disappointing but said he remained committed to "ensuring vulnerable Californians can access the healthcare they need." Bonta, a Democrat, co-led the case with his counterparts from Connecticut and New York.

Planned Parenthood did not respond to a request for comment.

A provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by the Republican-led Congress, bars Medicaid funding for tax-exempt organizations that provide family planning and reproductive health services if they perform abortions and received more than $800,000 in Medicaid funds during the 2023 fiscal year.

Planned Parenthood says the law was passed with it in mind and has contributed to at least 20 of its health centers closing since Trump signed the measure into law in July.

After the 1st Circuit earlier this year paused Talwani's initial injunction in Planned Parenthood's favor, a group of Democratic attorneys general asked her to block the law's enforcement again, but on different grounds.

Talwani, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, agreed to do so on December 2, saying the states were likely to succeed in establishing that the law constitutes an unconstitutional retroactive condition on their participation in the Medicaid healthcare program for low-income people.

Talwani held the law did not give the states clear notice as to which entities it covered and imposed a restriction they could not have anticipated after the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved their state Medicaid plans.

But Tuesday's 1st Circuit panel, comprised only of judges appointed by Democratic presidents, said the Trump administration had demonstrated it was likely to prevail on appeal in establishing the law was not ambiguous and that Congress had the power to make such changes.