A Planned Parenthood clinic in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Photo by McKenzie Romero/Utah News Dispatch)
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday closed Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit filed last summer after Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law blocked Medicaid patients from going to its clinics for health appointments for a year.
Planned Parenthood filed a notice with the court on Friday saying it had dismissed “without prejudice all claims” against the Trump administration in the case. Massachusetts District Court Judge Indira Talwani issued an electronic order Monday closing the case “pursuant to plaintiffs’ notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice.”
The law prevents people who receive Medicaid from being seen at Planned Parenthood facilities until early July, when the one-year deadline expires.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, wrote in a statement released last week that President Donald Trump “and his allies in Congress have weaponized the federal government to target Planned Parenthood at the expense of patients – and deprive people of the care they depend on.”
“Through every attack, Planned Parenthood has never lost sight of its focus: ensuring patients get the care they need from the providers they trust. That will never change. Care continues, and so does our commitment to fighting for every individual’s freedom to make their own decisions about their bodies, their lives and their futures.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from States Newsroom.
Talk to me originally chose Planned Parenthood in this case, fleeting blocking of the effectiveness of the defunding clause. But an appeals court later reversed this decisionwhich allows the Trump administration to legally block Medicaid funds from going to Planned Parenthood.
Talwani was nominated by former President Barack Obama.
The provision in the Republicans’ “big, beautiful” bill that prevents all Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood was originally intended to last a decade, but the final version covered a year.
Federal law has prohibited spending on abortion coverage for decades, with few exceptions for rape, incest or the woman’s life.
So the novel language prevented Medicaid patients from making appointments at Planned Parenthood for other types of health care, such as annual physicals, cancer screenings or contraceptive appointments.
Shireen Ghorbani, President and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, the filed the lawsuit wrote in a statement along with the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America that their health care providers would “continue to treat patients and fulfill our mission of providing quality care and education to everyone who needs it, regardless of where they live or how much money they make.”
A spokesman for Planned Parenthood, who declined to comment on the record, said certain clinics may choose to cover the cost of treating Medicaid patients even if the clinic does not receive reimbursement from the federal government under the law.
Angela Vasquez-Giroux, vice president of communications at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, wrote in a statement that the organization’s “health centers initially protected the overwhelming majority of patients who rely on Medicaid from the harm of this cruel law. Unfortunately, the consequences for patients will become significantly worse over time as health centers close, costs rise, and access to their trusted provider becomes more inaccessible.”
