Planned Parenthood sues over Trump megabill 'defunding' provision

Planned Parenthood sued the Trump administration Monday over a provision in the new tax and spending law that would strip Medicaid funding from its health centers because the organization also provides abortions. 

Planned Parenthood said the law unconstitutionally eliminates patients’ ability to use Medicaid as their insurance at any of its health centers nationwide. 

"The prohibition specifically targets Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member health care providers in order to punish them for lawful activity, namely advocating for and providing legal abortion access wholly outside the Medicaid program and without using any federal funds,” the organization wrote in the complaint. 

Federal law has prohibited health care providers from using federal funds for abortions for more than 40 years.  

“Thus, this statute must be doing something more — and it is.  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 stated. 

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts by Planned Parenthood Federation of America as well as state members Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah. 

Republicans have been trying to pass legislation that blocks federal funding to Planned Parenthood for years, but the intricate rules of passing a party-line bill in the Senate meant the provisions have needed to pass muster with the Senate’s parliamentarian.

To abide by those rules, the law imposed a one-year ban on state Medicaid payments to any health care nonprofit that offers abortions and received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023 — a list that’s comprised almost entirely of Planned Parenthood.  

The law will primarily affect Planned Parenthood clinics in blue states with large numbers of Medicaid beneficiaries where abortion is still legal. The organization said 200 clinics in 24 states were at risk of closing under the bill. Of those clinics, 90 percent are in states where abortion is protected and legal.

“This case is about making sure that patients who use Medicaid as their insurance to get birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment can continue to do so at their local Planned Parenthood health center, and we will make that clear in court," Alexis McGill Johnson, the chief executive of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. 

The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the lawsuit.