A federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday granted Planned Parenthood’s request for a preliminary injunction that temporarily halts the Trump administration from defunding the nation’s largest abortion provider through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani found that the law passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump violates Planned Parenthood’s First Amendment and equal protection rights.
She agreed with the plaintiffs’ argument that the law’s one-year ban on Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood imposes an “unconstitutional condition” on its members that do not provide abortions or don’t meet the threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.
“Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in establishing that Section 71113 unconstitutionally conditions Medicaid
funding on these Members foregoing their First Amendment right of association,” Talwani wrote in an order that stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood.
Earlier this month, Talwani first granted a temporary restraining order of the bill’s provision that defunds abortion providers. Shortly thereafter, the Department of Justice moved to lift the Obama-appointed judge’s pause. The Trump administration will likely appeal Monday’s preliminary injunction.
The DOJ previously argued that blocking the legislation was an extraordinary and unjustified move.
“Beyond the futility of the claims on the merits, Planned Parenthood fails to demonstrate imminent irreparable harm to justify an injunction, asserting only classically reparable economic injury and irrelevant potential harm to patients, who are third parties not before this Court,” the DOJ wrote.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood contends that the resulting loss of Medicaid funding would harm its nonabortion services, like cancer screenings and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, and close 200 of its 600 clinics across the United States. The organization’s lawyers note that Medicaid typically doesn’t cover most abortions.
Another abortion provider, Maine Family Planning, filed a separate lawsuit to restore Medicaid funding.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America was among the anti-abortion groups that criticized “activist” Talwani’s ruling Monday night.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD MYSTERY: WHY MEGABILL DEFUNDING WAS SHORTENED TO JUST A YEAR
“An activist judge just prolonged the forced taxpayer funding of Big Abortion, a desperate attempt to run out the clock, and a shameful abuse of our tax dollars. Every day her decision remains in effect, millions are funneled into a business that profits from ending unborn lives and putting women at risk,” SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement.
“Planned Parenthood’s desperate ploy for our tax dollars only underscores why the One Big Beautiful Bill is such a historic win,” she added. “It halted, for the first time, over half a billion taxpayer dollars from propping up the corrupt abortion industry.”