Judge Pauses Medicaid Cuts to All Planned Parenthood Clinics (1)

All Planned Parenthood locations are protected for now from sweeping Medicaid cuts in the Trump administration’s tax law under a federal judge’s order Monday expanding a previous injunction that paused enforcement for some affiliates.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America members demonstrated they are likely to succeed on their claim that the federal spending law’s one-year pause on Medicaid reimbursements to centers that offer abortion care amounts to a “targeted exclusion” that violates the US Constitution, Judge Indira Talwani of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts wrote in her order granting the national health provider’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

The ruling prohibits the US Department of Health and Human Services from applying the provision to exclude any of Planned Parenthood’s roughly 600 health centers from Medicaid reimbursements while litigation over the statute proceeds.

Monday’s decision builds on Talwani’s July 21 order protecting affiliates that would not provide abortion services as of Oct. 1, or whose total federal and state Medicaid expenditures didn’t exceed $800,000 in fiscal 2023. Talwani wrote at the time that a pause for the remaining clinics remained under advisement.

The latest order is a major win for Planned Parenthood, which filed on July 23 an emergency motion demanding Talwani clarify her initial order. The national reproductive health provider said at the time the court had recognized that it met the standards for a preliminary injunction protecting all affiliates, but only granted partial relief for the organization’s members.

The provision, advanced by Republicans and anti-abortion advocates eager to crack down on federal funding for abortion care providers, prompted Planned Parenthood and other family planning providers to warn that widespread Medicaid cuts would force clinics to close and cut off some communities’ access to low-cost contraception, STI testing, and other care.

The order Monday ensures “patients across the country can still go to their trusted Planned Parenthood provider for care using Medicaid,” Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in an emailed statement.

“We will keep fighting this cruel law so that everyone can get birth control, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, and other critical health care, no matter their insurance,” McGill Johnson said.

The HHS has already appealed Talwani’s July 21 order, sending the matter to the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Department of Justice attorneys on behalf of the HHS argue the litigation over the statute is premature, as the federal government has yet to interpret or enforce the provision.

An HHS spokesperson said in an email that the federal government strongly disagreed with Talwani’s ruling Monday.

“States should not be forced to fund organizations that have chosen political advocacy over patient care,” the spokesperson said, adding that the ruling “undermines state flexibility and disregards longstanding concerns about accountability.”

Planned Parenthood has received funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization founded by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg Law is operated by entities controlled by Michael Bloomberg.

The case is Planned Parenthood Federation of America v. Kennedy, D. Mass., No. 1:25-cv-11913, motion for preliminary injunction granted 7/28/25.