Judge Partially Blocks Trump Admin Push To Slash Planned Parenthood Funding

A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from defunding certain Planned Parenthood facilities after President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” was set to slash the abortion provider’s funding for one year. 

District Court Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction that said the Trump administration could not stop funding Medicaid payments for Planned Parenthood facilities that don’t directly provide abortions or take less than $800,000 in Medicaid funding. Talwani, an Obama appointee, claimed that the provision of the recently signed “Big, Beautiful Bill” that cut funding for Planned Parenthood violated its First Amendment rights. 

“Instead of merely prohibiting Planned Parenthood Members that receive Medicaid funds from providing abortions, the statute prohibits them from affiliating with entities that do. Moreover, the record is devoid of evidentiary support for Defendants’ suggestion that Planned Parenthood entities share funds that are ultimately used for abortions,” the judge said. “Therefore, restricting funds based on affiliation with an abortion provider operates only to restrict the associational right of Members that do not provide abortion.”

The injunction will remain in place while the case is being litigated.

Talwani previously issued a temporary injunction against the Trump administration from pulling funding after multiple Planned Parenthood affiliates filed a lawsuit following the passage of Trump’s signature spending bill. The law bans Medicaid coverage for entities that provide abortion. From 2022 to 2023, Planned Parenthood received nearly $800 million in taxpayer dollars.

“All three democratically elected components of the Federal Government collaborated to enact that provision consistent with their electoral mandates from the American people as to how they want their hard-earned taxpayer dollars spent,” the Trump administration wrote, saying that Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit was seeking to “supplant duly enacted legislation with their own policy preferences.”

In a statement, Planned Parenthood said that it was disappointed that the judge’s order did not shield all of its facilities. 

“The court has not yet ruled on whether it will grant preliminary injunctive relief to other members,” the abortion giant said. “We remain hopeful that the court will grant this relief. There will be nothing short of a public health crisis if Planned Parenthood members are allowed to be ‘defunded.’” 

Conservative advocates, like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, criticized the judge’s order. 

“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,” she said. “Planned Parenthood’s desperate ploy for our tax dollars only underscores why the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ is such a historic win. It halted, for the first time, over half a billion taxpayer dollars from propping up the corrupt abortion industry.”