Spending Law’s Medicaid Limits Spur Planned Parenthood Suit (1)

Planned Parenthood is suing the Trump administration over its new multitrillion-dollar tax and spending law, claiming it unconstitutionally targets the group by barring its health centers from receiving Medicaid reimbursement for reproductive health care.

The law seeks to punish the group for advocating for and providing abortions, Planned Parenthood said in its lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Boston. It’s one of the first legal challenges to the bill President Donald Trump signed into law on Friday.

“If allowed to take effect and prevent Planned Parenthood members from providing care to the almost 80 million Americans who rely on Medicaid for their essential health care needs, the defund provision will have devastating consequences nationwide,” the organization said.

The complaint cited previous bills in Congress and statements by anti-abortion politicians including Representative Lauren Boebert, saying they make it clear that the purpose of the provision is to “defund Planned Parenthood.” The nonprofit, which has more than 600 health centers across the country, is seeking an order blocking the measure.

The US Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the suit.

Planned Parenthood said the law defines as “prohibited entities” nonprofit groups that provide abortions, are “primarily engaged in family planning services, reproductive health, and related medical care” and that received more than a particular amount of Medicaid reimbursement in fiscal year 2023. It says those criteria are “specifically drafted to target Planned Parenthood members,” in breach of the US Constitution.

Planned Parenthood said it’s being illegally singled out because it provides legal abortions and for its role in advocating for access to sexual and reproductive health care. The law has no relation to the use of tax dollars to pay for abortions, the group said, noting that federal law has blocked providers from using US funds to pay for the procedure.

In a separate case, the US Supreme Court last month ruled in favor of South Carolina’s efforts to exclude a local Planned Parenthood affiliate from Medicaid eligibility, in a ruling that makes it easier for states to defund the organization.

The new case is Planned Parenthood Federation of America v. Kennedy, 25-cv-11913, US District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).

(Updates with Supreme Court ruling last month.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Peter Jeffrey at pjeffrey@bloomberg.net

Steve Stroth, Elizabeth Wasserman

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