Court paves way for Trump administration to cut Planned Parenthood funding
Boston, Massachussetts - A new ruling from a federal appeals court in Boston has opened the doors to President Donald Trump's plan to cut Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood.
The Trump administration scored a huge win on Thursday when a federal appeals court in Boston put a preliminary injunction on hold, which had stymied Washington's ability to cut Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood.
Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" Act contained a provision that denied Medicaid funds from specific tax-exempt organizations – including Planned Parenthood – that provide abortion services.
In late July, District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction blocking this provision on the basis that the law likely violates the US Constitution because it targets Planned Parenthood as a form of punishment.
"Plaintiffs are likely to establish that Congress singled them out with punitive intent," Talwani wrote in her judgment in July, claiming that the law likely violated equal protection rights under the Fifth Amendment.
The ruling initially provided some relief for Planned Parenthood, which had sued on the basis that the block on funding would have "catastrophic" consequences on its health centers, putting about 200 of them at risk of closure.
Trump's Department of Justice argued, however, that Talwani's ruling overrode decisions taken by Congress that "taxpayer funds should not be used to subsidize certain entities that practice abortion."
In a statement put out by Planned Parenthood, the organization's President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said that "With this decision, patients and providers are in limbo."
"Patients who rely on the essential health care that Planned Parenthood health centers provide can't plan for their futures, decide where they go for care, or control their lives, bodies, and futures."
Cover photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire