Kaitlyn Joshua, co-founder of Abortion in America and a resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said she fears many patients will be left without care after Planned Parenthood closed its only health centers in Louisiana in response to a up-to-date federal rule included in the sweeping tax and spending measure President Donald Trump signed last summer. (Photo by Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
A controversial rule passed last year denying federal Medicaid funding to abortion providers is set to expire this summer, despite anti-abortion pressure on Republicans to renew it.
Congressional leaders have insisted in recent days that a up-to-date federal spending bill must be as pared-down as possible and focused on funding related to immigration enforcement while the Department of Homeland Security is partially shut down for two months. They have also suggested that the rule could be revised again in future legislation, but probably not before the current budget measure expires on July 4th.
The legislation that Congress is now considering “has to be very narrow and rigorous,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune of South Dakota said in a statement shared by a spokesman. “But we will of course be looking at ways to address not only Planned Parenthood, but also some other issues that might fit into a reconciliation bill.”
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana also isn’t considering renewing the rule in the House version of the bill The Washington Examiner recently reported this.
The comprehensive tax and spending measure President Donald Trump signed the law last summer withdraws federal Medicaid funding from organizations that provide abortions and received reimbursements of more than $800,000 in fiscal year 2023. The rule primarily affects Planned Parenthood as well as independent health care nonprofits such as Health Imperatives in Massachusetts and Maine Family Planning.
Medicaid, which provides health insurance primarily to lower-income people, is funded jointly by the federal government and states, with the federal government covering about two-thirds of the cost.
The rule contained in Trump’s tax and spending bill was presented by supporters as a ban on funding abortions, but actually prevented clinics from being reimbursed under Medicaid for birth control, infection testing and treatment, and a wide range of other reproductive and primary care services. A federal rule already prevents federal funding of abortions except in cases of Rape, incest and endangerment of life.
Some states already allow this state Medicaid to cover abortion services. Others, such as South Carolina, have excluded Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs. South Carolina law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.
At the annual meeting of the anti-abortion movement “March for Life” rally. In January in Washington, D.C., Johnson called the Medicaid provision a major Republican political victory.
“We stand here today with one voice and affirm that the federal government should not subsidize any industry that profits from the destruction of human life.” Johnson said.
The rule has survived several legal challenges and their implications were felt across the country. Planned Parenthood says more than 50 health centers in 18 states According to a recent report, 23 of them were closed last year due to the Medicaid rule Democratic Congressional Reportand the remainder is due to the fleeting loss of federal subsidies for family planning and health care and other factors. The organization has also reported that contraceptive visits and cancer screenings have occurred at Planned Parenthood clinics double-digit decline.
“So much damage has already been done,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a written statement. “Since Planned Parenthood was defunded, fewer patients have been going to Planned Parenthood health centers for breast exams, contraception, IUDs and other long-acting reversible contraception compared to the same period last year.”
Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, called the report a “biased review.”
“Planned Parenthood is probably the largest abortion provider in the world, and abortion is actually its primary business,” Harris said. “A majority of Americans believe that tax dollars should not be used to fund abortions. If Planned Parenthood wanted to stop performing abortions and instead provide other health services, that would be different.”
Some clinics, such as Health Imperatives in Massachusetts, have continued to treat, in some cases with, Medicaid patients Help from states.
“While we are encouraged by the news that Congress is unlikely to include an expansion of the defunding provision in the upcoming bill, the federal government is continuing its orchestrated attack on the rights of the people we serve, particularly women, immigrants and trans youth, in other ways,” Julia Kehoe, president and CEO of Health Imperatives, said in a written statement. “Our focus remains on providing the best possible health care to all people, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.”
Maine Family Planning had to is closing three of its primary care clinics due to the loss of federal reimbursements. But with its recently passed budget, the state is one of the first to provide one Safety Net for Reproductive Health Servicesincluding $5 million per year to support non-abortion services such as contraception, infertility treatments, cancer screenings, prenatal and obstetric care, and the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.
Other states – including CaliforniaColorado, ConnecticutHawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New MexicoNew York, Oregon And Washington – committed in total 300 million dollars to replace state Medicaid money. But that amount won’t fully fill the gap left by the lack of federal money, Planned Parenthood reports, that its health centers have provided an estimated $700 million in the care of Medicaid patients before the up-to-date rule annually.
McGill Johnson said more than 150 health centers were at risk of closure and more than 1.1 million patients could lose access to health care.
Expiring the federal Medicaid rule would be a blow to the anti-abortion movement has pushed to extend the rule to 10 years and many of its political demands were made by the Trump administration not fulfilledsuch as restricting nationwide access to medication abortion.
Republican U.S. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, one of the Senate’s fiercest abortion opponents, Posted on X Earlier this month, she said that not renewing the rule would be “a massive betrayal. Under no circumstances should Planned Parenthood receive taxpayer money for their abortions and gender reassignment insanity. Period.”
Hawley Posted at the end of last week that he would propose an amendment to ban federal funding to Planned Parenthood.
John Mize, CEO of the national lobbying group Americans United for Life, wrote in a recent article Op-Ed in the Washington Examiner that a one-year extension of the rule was “the minimum acceptable outcome.”
“If reconciliation is not pursued, abortion providers will likely not receive their federal funding back until after the 2028 election, if not two years later,” Mize wrote. “Republicans cannot take the majority they now have for granted.”
Planned Parenthood also does not believe the provision is likely to expire.
“We know it is a question of when — not if — anti-abortion lawmakers will once again attack Planned Parenthood and their constituents’ access to health care,” McGill Johnson said in the statement.
Stateline reporter Sofia Resnick can be reached at sresnick@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by State borderwhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes West Virginia Watch, and is a 501c(3) public charity supported by grants and a coalition of donors.
