Trump can block Medicaid funds to “defeat” Planned Parenthood, judicial rules | Trump administration
The Trump administration can move forward with its plan to “finance” Planned Parenthood by preventing it from receiving Medicaid reimbursements, the US government insurance program for low -income people, a federal appeal court.
The decision of the first American circuit court of appeal raises a preliminary injunction of a lower court, which had prevented the Trump administration from promulgating a provision of its tax and expenses which canceled the capacity of Planned Parenthood to participate in Medicaid for a year.
From now on, the breeding health giant estimates that up to 200 Planned Parenthood clinics can face the closure, given that 1.1 million Planned Parenthood patients are eligible for Medicaid.
“Cancers will not be detected, the STIs will not be treated and patients will not receive birth control they need to plan their family and future,” Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said on Friday during a press call. “Patients will have to travel more to get care and wait longer to obtain it as demand increases in health centers.”
More than 60% of closing clinics are in rural areas or “medically under-commissioned areas”, while around 90% of clinics are located in blue states that are currently protecting abortion rights, said McGill Johnson. Planned Parenthood Clinics provides almost 40% of all American abortions, according to a 2024 report from the Independent Abortion Clinic Association Association Care Network.
“Make no mistake, this is a stolen door abortion ban,” said McGill Johnson.
It is already illegal to use federal dollars, including MEDICAID money, to pay abortions. In 2024, Planned Parenthood clinics treated people who rely on Medicaid during visits to more than 1.5 million services such as STI tests, cancer and contraception. However, because anti-abortion activists see Planned Parenthood as a public enemy, they spent years trying to convince the Republicans to “defeat” Planned Parenthood by cutting him from Medicaid.
During the call, McGill Johnson said that Planned Parenthood had developed plans that would allow certain regional affiliates to stop providing abortions in states where the procedure remains legal, in order to preserve their ability to receive Medicaid. After the call, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Federation of America said that these plans were no longer taken into account.
“It is not an attempt to move away from abortion,” said McGill Johnson. “Planned Parenthood strongly supports our needs and our ability to provide abortion care wherever it is legal in this country. It is simply an opportunity for us to initiate our federation to be able to provide care and also preserve so much funding for reimbursement of services, like any other health care provider should be able to do so. ”
In a declaration sent by email, the spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Federation of America stressed that “Planned Parenthood Healthcare Clinicals will continue to provide abortion care wherever it is legal to do so”.
The dispute in the case will continue, because the first circuit should hear more substantial arguments in the case in the coming weeks. In the United States, more than 80 million people use Medicaid and 11% of women’s beneficiaries of Medicaid which are between 15 and 49 years old and who receive family planning services go to Planned Parenthood, according to a non-profit KFF analysis, which follows the health policy.
“There is no rescue plan. There is no one waiting in the wings to take care of our patients,” said Dominique Lee, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, one of the regional affiliates of Planned Parenthood who helped to provoke the provision of the Trump administration.
“Planned Parenthood is the safety net.”
