OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
2:34 PM – Friday, September 12, 2025
the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Trump administration may block Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood while ongoing legal challenges proceed.
A lower circuit court judge previously ruled back in July that Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be funded by Medicaid.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025, includes provisions that restrict Medicaid funding for certain tax-exempt organizations, including Planned Parenthood, if they provide abortions.
Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, and sued in an attempt to block the directive — arguing that there would be “catastrophic” consequences for its organizations.
The lawsuit was filed in July against Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) told the First Circuit that in blocking the bill’s provision, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani wrongfully overrode the democratically elected government official’s consensus that “taxpayer funds should not be used to subsidize certain entities that practice abortion — conduct that many Americans find morally abhorrent.”
Obama appointee Talwani used “flimsy” reasoning for the July ruling, according to the DOJ.
The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday to put a hold on the injunction, allowing the federal government to withhold Medicaid funding from the organization, which reported that it executed 392,715 abortions during the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
The abortion provider argued that Thursday’s ruling could prevent more than 1.1 million patients from using Medicaid at its nearly 600 centers nationwide and put up to 200 of those clinics at risk of closure.
“While the Trump administration wants to rip away reproductive freedom, we’re here to say loud and clear: we will not back down,” said Dominique Lee, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts in a statement. “This is not over.”
A pro-life organization founded by anti-abortion activist Lila Rose, Live Action, a non-profit that aims to “shift culture and law on abortion” using “compelling educational media, human interest storytelling, investigative reporting, and community activism” to “reveal the humanity of preborn children and expose the abortion industry’s exploitation of women and families,” celebrated the new ruling on X — calling it “incredible news!”
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