States Push Back Against Planned Parenthood Funding Cuts

As the federal government cuts funding for Planned Parenthood, some liberal states are stepping in to keep the nation’s largest abortion provider in business. 

Washington, New Mexico, Massachusetts, and Colorado are among those pledging to use state dollars to fill the “gap” left by federal funding cuts. 

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, says his state will contribute more than $11 million to Planned Parenthood to replace the funding it’s losing in the state thanks to President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which put a yearlong ban on federal Medicaid funding for abortion providers.  

“The real victims in the Trump administration’s political, cruel attack on reproductive rights are Washingtonians who will lose their health care provider. I will not allow that to happen,” Ferguson said in a statement.  

“Washington will step into this temporary gap to ensure women continue to have access to critical health care,” he said. 

The federal funding ban went into effect earlier this month after an appeals court overturned a district judge’s order that had required the federal government to continue issuing Medicaid reimbursements to abortion providers. 

Planned Parenthood said the ban could put as many as 200 of its centers at risk of closure nationwide. 

Despite the halt to federal Medicaid reimbursements, one New York Planned Parenthood says it will provide free “health care” to any patients on Medicaid.  

And other states are taking their own steps to ensure their abortion providers stay open. 

Like Washington, New Mexico has said it will cover the lost funding for abortion providers in the state—an estimated $3 million. 

“New Mexico will not abandon women and families when Republicans in Washington fail them,” said Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in a statement. 

“Access to comprehensive reproductive health care is a fundamental right and a public health necessity. That’s why we’re directing state resources to ensure Medicaid patients continue receiving the full spectrum of reproductive health services through Planned Parenthood and other qualified providers without interruption,” Grisham said. 

In a special session in late August, Colorado’s Legislature passed a bill requiring the use of state funds to reimburse Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to make up for their loss of federal Medicaid reimbursements. Democrat Gov. Jared Polis signed that bill into law on Aug. 26. 

In July, Massachusetts approved $2 million for Planned Parenthood to cover what Democrat Gov. Maura Healey called Trump’s “assault on women’s access to essential health care.” 

That same month, a coalition of liberal attorneys general sued the Department of Health and Human Services over the cuts to funding, calling them “retribution” for Planned Parenthood’s “constitutionally protected advocacy.” 

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