FILE - The exterior of a Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services Center is seen on May 28, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
A federal judge on Monday ruled Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding.
This comes as Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, fights the Trump administration over efforts to defund the organization.
What does it mean?
Dig deeper:
The new order replaces a previous edict handed down by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston, Massachusetts, last week.
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Supreme Court rules on Planned Parenthood
A controversial change to the Medicaid provider tax rate in Senate Republicans’ version of the "big, beautiful bill" has been knocked down by Senate rules. The Supreme Court also ruled Thursday that South Carolina can block Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood clinics. LiveNOW’s Andrew Craft is speaking with Thomas Savidge, a Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research.
The backstory:
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.
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.
Why you should care:
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 said it was meant to affect their nearly 600 centers in 48 states.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press.