On Monday, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani handed down a new preliminary injunction that requires the federal government to continue providing Medicaid funding to all Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide, contradicting a recent law that prohibits such payments.
The same judge had previously issued a narrower injunction barring the government from cutting Medicaid payments to only certain Planned Parenthood facilities.
Republicans in Congress — as part of their sprawling reconciliation package signed into law earlier this month — enacted a provision that, for one year, disallows federal Medicaid payments to abortion providers that receive at least $800,000 in funding. Those payments did not directly pay for abortions, but went to reimburse other services such as contraception, STD screening, and pregnancy tests.
Although it is not named in the legislation, Planned Parenthood claims that the law was designed to target it specifically. The organization, which is the largest provider of abortions in the country, quickly sued the federal government to prevent the law from taking effect.
Judge Talwani, who is overseeing Planned Parenthood’s case in Boston, has now blocked the enforcement of the law barring federal Medicaid payments to major abortion providers. Believing that the law likely violates the Constitution, Talwani has ordered that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services continue to pay Planned Parenthood for medical services as the case proceeds.
Appointed to the District Court for the District of Massachusetts by President Obama in 2014, Talwani agrees with Planned Parenthood’s claim that Congress had singled it out. The law’s specificity, she argues, made the provision targeting abortion providers into a “bill of attainder,” or a legislative act that punishes someone for a crime without due process. Such laws are prohibited by Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution.
Additionally, Talwani contends that the provision she blocked was likely in violation of Planned Parenthood’s rights to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment, as well as some Planned Parenthood affiliates’ right under the First Amendment to freely associate with its parent organization while not performing abortions themselves.
After a temporary restraining order against the law expired on July 21, Planned Parenthood had argued prior to today’s ruling that its clinics had to stop billing Medicaid for services. It has claimed that, if the cuts remained in effect, nearly 200 of its 600 locations would be in danger of closing.
Talwani appeared to concur with Planned Parenthood in her order, claiming that “patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable.” In particular, she wrote, “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.”
Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, released a statement cheering Talwani’s expanded injunction. “We 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,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services criticized the ruling.
“We strongly disagree with the court’s decision,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said. “States should not be forced to fund organizations that have chosen political advocacy over patient care. This ruling undermines state flexibility and disregards longstanding concerns about accountability.”