US judge blocks Trump effort to cut Planned Parenthood funding

A federal judge in Boston on Monday blocked the Trump administration from ending federal Medicaid reimbursements for Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide, ruling that the effort is likely unconstitutional and in violation of the group’s First Amendment protections. 

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee in Boston, granted Planned Parenthood’s request for a nationwide preliminary injunction. ‘Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,’ she said 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,’ she added.

Judge Talwani said Monday that Planned Parenthood had sufficiently demonstrated to the court that they were ‘likely to succeed on the merits’ of their lawsuit— one of the ways in which judges evaluate emergency requests for injunctive relief—citing the harm that patients and clinics would likely suffer as a result of the lost Medicaid funding.

Attorneys for Planned Parenthood had sued over the Medicaid cuts earlier this month, which were enacted under a provision of the ‘one big beautiful bill’ narrowly cleared by the Republican-led Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4. 

Plaintiffs argued in their filing that the cuts would cause ‘grave’ health risks to as many as one million patients nationwide. 

They also pointed to possible increases in cancer and in undetected sexually transmitted infections, especially in low-income communities.

Many areas could also see an increase in unplanned pregnancies as a result of the lost contraception access their clinics provide, they noted.

Judge Talwani’s order is expected to apply to the nearly 600 health centers operated across the country by Planned Parenthood. It is almost certain to be appeared by the Trump administration, which could even ask the higher courts to grant it an administrative stay in the interim while lower court battles continue to play out.

The administration has also found success in filing emergency orders to the Supreme Court. As of earlier this month, the high court has ruled in Trump’s favor in the majority of cases filed via the ‘shadow docket’ or via emergency application.

Fox News’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.