Latest news with #DefundProvision
Fox News
01-08-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Democrats escalate anti-Trump lawfare by targeting Congress in Planned Parenthood funding fight
Abortion providers and Democrat-led states are bringing lawsuits over the Trump administration's decision to defund Planned Parenthood, a legal fight that raises the stakes by challenging the will of both Congress and the president. Planned Parenthood and several blue states have sued over the provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that strips Medicaid funding from certain abortion providers for one year. The bill was passed by Congress and signed by the president in July. The legislation advances the pro-life movement's longtime goal of defunding Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, but a federal judge in Massachusetts has temporarily blocked the Trump Health and Human Services Department from carrying it out. Derek Muller, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, told Fox News Digital that taking on two branches of government sets this litigation apart from many of the hundreds of other lawsuits targeting the Trump administration. "Congress has the power of the purse," Muller said. "Congress has a lot of discretion [over] how it wants to spend its money, and this is not an instance where the executive has been engaged in overreach or doubtful conduct. … This is ordinary legislation, and when it comes to ordinary legislation, there's more deference given to Congress, and certainly more in how it chooses to subsidize things, where it wants to give money or where it doesn't want to give money." The judge's decision to temporarily block the funding cuts stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit with hundreds of facilities across the country that provide abortions and other reproductive health services. Planned Parenthood's attorneys alleged in court papers that the provision was unconstitutional, arguing it would deprive the nonprofit of millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements, causing it to lose half of its patients and forcing it to shutter up to one-third of its facilities. Katie Daniel, counsel at SBA Pro-Life America, told Fox News Digital Planned Parenthood was making a "desperate argument" that "totally undermines Congress' ability to determine how taxpayer dollars are spent." It also signals that Planned Parenthood was not a solvent business, she said. "It's a business that really can't keep itself afloat without getting hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars," Daniel said. Planned Parenthood's attorneys noted that Medicaid does not typically cover abortions and that the funding cuts would affect other services. Cancer and sexually transmitted infections would go undetected, especially for low-income people, and more unplanned pregnancies would occur because of a lack of contraception access, the attorneys said. "The adverse public health consequences of the Defund Provision will be grave," the attorneys wrote. Daniel said the Medicaid marketplace includes other options for clinics and that those options "outnumber Planned Parenthood nationally 15 to one." Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, said she was inclined to agree with Planned Parenthood that the legislation violated several provisions in the Constitution and granted a preliminary injunction, which the Department of Justice is now appealing. That lawsuit has been joined by two others challenging the bill. A coalition of 21 states with Democratic attorneys general, along with the District of Columbia and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, brought one of them on Monday. Maine Family Planning, which operates 18 health facilities in the Pine Tree State, has also sued over the legislation. While lawmakers have touted that the bill defunds Planned Parenthood, it was written to include other entities, including Maine Family Planning, as a way to pass parliamentarian scrutiny. Daniel told Fox News Digital she anticipates the higher courts will rule in favor of the Trump administration but that the bill's one-year limit on the funding cuts works in Planned Parenthood's favor. "At this point for Planned Parenthood, it's really about running out the clock," Daniel said. "The defund provision is for one year, so every single day that they can keep getting money. … That's existential to them." If the Trump administration ultimately wins the court fight, it could attempt to claw back the Medicaid funds it lost while Talwani's injunction was in place. Daniel noted, however, that "it's incredibly difficult, it's time-consuming, it's costly, and Planned Parenthood is relying on all of that." Among Planned Parenthood's allegations was a longshot claim that Congress's bill violates the Constitution's bill of attainder clause because it singles out and punishes Planned Parenthood without a trial. Bills of attainder are pieces of legislation that serve to bypass the role of judges and punish people or entities. The Constitution prohibits bills of attainder because they infringe on the function of the courts. Muller told Fox News Digital he believed the bill of attainder argument was a "nonstarter." "People have tried to argue that certain things that Congress does, singling out or targeting individuals, could rise to a bill of attainder," Muller said. "This has gotten some traction in lower courts. It has never really gotten traction in the courts of appeal because it is far afield from the original meaning of the Constitution on this topic."
UPI
08-07-2025
- Health
- UPI
Judge halts Planned Parenthood 'defund provision' in Trump's bill
A federal judge on Monday sided with Planned Parenthood in its lawsuit against a provision targeting the healthcare nonprofit in President Donald Trump's massive policy bill. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo July 8 (UPI) -- A federal judge has awarded Planned Parenthood a win over the Trump administration, halting a provision in President Donald Trump's massive tax cuts and benefits bill that prevents patients from using Medicaid at its healthcare facilities. Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts issued her temporary restraining order Monday evening, ordering the Trump administration to take "all steps necessary to ensure that Medicaid funding continues to be disbursed in the customary manner and timeframes to Planned Parenthood Federation and its members." The ruling came hours after Planned Parenthood filed its lawsuit against a provision in Trump's policy bill that puts in place a one-year ban on Medicaid payments to healthcare nonprofits that provide abortion services while receiving more than $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in fiscal year 2023. The nonprofit family medical provider accused the Trump administration of unlawfully targeting it with the so-called defund provision. It said the provision's purpose was to specifically "punish" Planned Parenthood for advocating for and providing legal abortion access outside of the Medicaid program and without using federal funds. The lawsuit added that the provision was made specifically to target Planned Parenthood as those who would be affected by it are "almost entirely" its members. "And if there were any doubt, President Trump, Speaker [Mike] Johnson and their allies have been promising to 'defund Planned Parenthood' for years now," the lawsuit states. "That is what the Defund Provision does." According to the lawsuit, if the provision is allowed to stand, it would threaten the healthcare of more than 1 million Americans who use Medicaid as their insurance at Planned Parenthood centers for care ranging from birth control to cancer screenings. "The Defund Provision is a naked attempt to leverage the government's spending power to attack and penalize Planned Parenthood and impermissibly single it out for unfavorable treatment," the lawsuit states. "It does so not only because of Planned Parenthood members' long history of providing legal abortions to patients across the country, but also because of Planned Parenthood's unique role in advocating for policies to protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, including abortion." In a statement following the ruling, Planned Parenthood said it was "grateful" for the swift action. "In states across the country, providers have been forced to turn away patients who use Medicaid to get basic sexual and reproductive healthcare because President Trump and his backers in Congress passed a law to block them from going to Planned Parenthood," it said on Threads. "The fight is just beginning, and we look forward to our day in court!"
New York Times
07-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Planned Parenthood Wins a Temporary Injunction Over Medicaid Funding
Planned Parenthood won a temporary injunction on Monday that allows its clinics to continue to receive Medicaid funding for services that are unrelated to abortion. The organization sued the Trump administration earlier on Monday over a new law that essentially bars Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving federal Medicaid payments, claiming that the legislation is an unconstitutional attack on Planned Parenthood's national organization and its locally run health care clinics. The lawsuit, which was filed in Federal District Court in Massachusetts, challenges part of the new domestic policy bill that President Trump signed on Friday. The temporary injunction expires in 14 days. Under the new law, some nonprofit health centers that provide abortions cannot be reimbursed by Medicaid for providing any other medical services, including birth control, annual checkups and tests for sexually transmitted infections. (The use of federal Medicaid dollars to cover the cost of abortions has long been illegal.) The new law applies only to nonprofit organizations that generated $800,000 or more in revenue from Medicaid payments in the 2023 fiscal year. Because few abortion providers are large enough to meet that threshold, the lawsuit argues that the law is intended to target Planned Parenthood for its advocacy of abortion rights, violating the group's freedom of speech. 'The Defund Provision is a naked attempt to leverage the government's spending power to attack and penalize Planned Parenthood and impermissibly single it out for unfavorable treatment,' Planned Parenthood said in its lawsuit. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Axios
07-07-2025
- Health
- Axios
Planned Parenthood sues Trump over "defund" provision
Planned Parenthood on Monday sued the Trump administration over a one-year funding ban in the Republican tax and spending package, saying it violates the reproductive health group's constitutional rights. Why it matters: Planned Parenthood has called the provision a "backdoor abortion ban" and said it could lead to the closure of some 200 affiliated clinics nationwide. Driving the news: The just-passed reconciliation bill includes a provision that effectively cut off Planned Parenthood and other large organizations that offer abortions from federal Medicaid funding for one year. Republicans lawmakers originally pressed for a 10-year ban but dialed back the duration while the Senate parliamentarian reviewed whether the prohibition was in order. The lawsuit also comes after the Supreme Court late last month ruled Medicaid patients don't have a right to freely choose their medical provider, in a South Carolina case that centered around state funding for Planned Parenthood. What they're saying: "The Defund Provision is a naked attempt to leverage the government's spending power to attack and penalize Planned Parenthood and impermissibly single it out for unfavorable treatment," the organization said in the filing in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. "There is no legitimate justification for the statute; rather, the true design of the Defund Provision is simply to express disapproval of, attack, and punish Planned Parenthood," the group stated in the complaint. More than 1 million Medicaid patients annually access health services through Planned Parenthood affiliates, they said. The suit names HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, as well as the health department, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz and his agency.
