The same federal judge who issued a temporary restraining order blocking the federal government last week from denying Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, has just now issued a new ruling saying Trump must keep funding these Planned Parenthood clinics via Medicaid.

Here’s the news via the AP:

A federal judge on Monday ruled Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding as the nation’s largest abortion provider fights President Donald Trump’s administration over efforts to defund the organization in his signature tax legislation.

The new order replaces a previous edict handed down by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston last week. Talwani initially granted a preliminary injunction specifically blocking the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood members that didn’t provide abortion care or didn’t meet a threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.

“Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,” Talwani wrote in her Monday order. “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.”

A provision in Trump’s tax bill instructed the federal government to end Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, even to those like Planned Parenthood that also offer medical services like contraception, pregnancy tests and STD testing.

Although Planned Parenthood is not specifically named in the statute, which went into effect July 4, the organization’s leaders say it was meant to affect their nearly 600 centers in 48 states. However, a major medical provider in Maine and likely others have also been hit.

In her Monday order, Talwani said that the court was “not enjoining the federal government from regulating abortion and is not directing the federal government to fund elective abortions or any healthcare service not otherwise eligible for Medicaid coverage.” Instead, Talwani said that her decision would block the federal government from excluding groups like Planned Parenthood from Medicaid reimbursements when they have demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success in their legal challenge.

In its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood had argued that they would be at risk of closing nearly 200 clinics in 24 states if they are cut off from Medicaid funds. They estimated this would result in more than 1 million patients losing care.

The federal government is not specifically targeting Planned Parenthood, but any abortion provider that received $800k in 2023. And it is the right of the federal government not to fund abortion providers in any way.

The Obama judge claims this is a violation of the Constitution via the First Amendment. Hogwash. The American taxpayer must not be forced to pay for abortions in any way, and these Medicaid dollars do just that. I know, critics will claim Medicaid doesn’t pay for abortions directly. Even if not directly funding abortions, they do it indirectly by allowing the doors of Planned Parenthood to remain open so that they can continue murdering the unborn.

The federal government has a moral obligation to protect the unborn and defunding Planned Parenthood of ALL federal funds is honoring that obligation.