A federal judge on Monday blocked a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, saying it likely violates the Constitution.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction blocking that section of the bill from being enforced, arguing in her order that the provision targeting Planned Parenthood is a form of punishment against the group and its members for providing abortions.
That provision of the bill, which was backed by Republicans and signed into law by President Donald Trump at the start of July, denied certain tax-exempt organizations and their affiliates from receiving Medicaid funds if they continue to provide abortions. That includes Planned Parenthood, which filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the provision.
Initially, Talwani granted a preliminary injunction that prevented the government from slashing Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood members that didn’t provide abortion care or didn’t meet a threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year. That order impacted 10 Planned Parenthood offices, while her latest order expands the injunction to all Planned Parenthood clinics.
“Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,” the judge wrote in her order on Monday. “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 [sexually transmitted infections].”
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a pro-abortion organization that doesn’t provide medical care, filed the lawsuit against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The judge’s order on Monday said that the court is not forcing “the federal government from regulating abortion and is not directing the federal government to fund elective abortions or any healthcare service not otherwise eligible for Medicaid coverage,” but is instead blocking the government from cutting off Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood if it has shown a likelihood in succeeding in its lawsuit.
“A preliminary injunction maintains Planned Parenthood Members’ ability to seek Medicaid reimbursements—and maintain their status quo level of service to patients,” Talwani stated in the order.
In its lawsuit filed in mid-July, Planned Parenthood had argued that it would be at risk of closing nearly 200 clinics in 24 states if it were cut off from Medicaid funds, estimating this would result in more than 1 million patients losing care.
In a statement following Talwani’s order, Planned Parenthood’s chief executive, Alexis McGill Johnson, said that the organization “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.”
The Trump administration responded to Planned Parenthood’s filing, writing in a 58-page motion submitted two weeks ago that the organization’s arguments are without merit.
The bill’s provision “neither targets nor punishes Planned Parenthood,” the court filing stated, adding that “it merely declines to fund entities (not limited to Planned Parenthood) that perform elective abortions.”
Lawyers for the government also disputed claims that the provision is retaliation against Planned Parenthood because of its pro-abortion stance.
“All three democratically elected components of the Federal Government collaborated to enact that provision consistent with their electoral mandates from the American people as to how they want their hard-earned taxpayer dollars spent,” the filing said, referring to the bill’s passage.
Planned Parenthood, it added, is attempting to place its own “policy preferences” above the legislation by filing the complaint.
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