Federal Judge Orders Restoration of Medicaid Funding to Planned Parenthood

Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill was a bunch of Big Beautiful Bullshit, and one of its provisions was to block Medicaid funding for a year for any organization that performs abortions and received more than $800,000 in Medicaid funding in 2023, according to The Guardian. That was obviously targeting Planned Parenthood, but they sued, and a federal judge has already ruled that the government has to return Medicaid funding to all Planned Parenthood branches. 

“Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,” writes U.S. district judge Indira Talwani in Boston in her decision that was handed down on Monday. “In particular, restricting members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs.”

As The Guardian points out, it’s already illegal to use Medicaid to pay for most abortions, but Planned Parenthood counts on the program to reimburse them for other services they provide including birth control, STI tests, and cancer screenings. As them.us points out, Planned Parenthood is one of the biggest providers of gender-affirming care in the country, a fact I’m sure that the Republicans were very aware of when drafting the bill in the first place.

The litigation is hardly over, as there’s still room for appeal, and the SCOTUS seems less and less likely to defy Trump lately. Still, Planned Parenthood remains hopeful, as evidenced by the statement made to The Guardian and other media from their president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson saying, “We will keep fighting this cruel law so that everyone can get birth control, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, and other critical healthcare, no matter their insurance.” Hopefully that fight will see a victory for all the people who need the services provided by Planned Parenthood.