U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani on Monday expanded a decision she handed down last week in which she issued a temporary injunction restoring Medicaid for 10 Planned Parenthood affiliates.
Talwani found the law retaliated against Planned Parenthood in violation of its First Amendment rights.
“Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,” Talwani wrote in the Monday ruling. “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.”
Separately, Democrats, spearheaded by Reps. Laura Friedman (Calif.), Nikema Williams (Ga.), Chris Pappas (N.H.) in the House and Sens. Tina Smith (Minn.) and Patty Murray (Wash.) in the Senate, plan to introduce legislation that would repeal that provision of the law.
The measure won’t advance in the GOP-controlled Congress, but it highlights how Democrats are continuing to mobilize and message around reproductive rights.
“We’re fighting to ensure people can continue getting the essential care they count on, no matter who they are or where they live,” Friedman said in a statement shared with The Hill.
Trump’s tax and spending package includes a provision that bars health care providers from being able to reimburse Medicaid for a year if they provide abortions and received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023.
The lawsuit challenges that provision, because there’s almost no other organization that meets the $800,000 threshold.
Talwani ruled it is “easily ascertainable” that Planned Parenthood was specifically targeted, despite the law not mentioning the organization by name.
The Trump administration already appealed a temporary restraining order that Talwani imposed just after the lawsuit was filed. But pending any action from the appeals court, Monday’s ruling will stand while the case plays out.
Taxpayer money is already prohibited from covering most abortions.
Instead, the new law cuts reimbursement for other health services provided by Planned Parenthood and other health centers, such as cancer screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
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