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US District Judge Indira Talwani July 28 blocked a one-year ban on Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a key provision in President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Talwani, whom Barack Obama appointed when he was president, argued the provision would cause “an increase in unintended pregnancies” and other “complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs.”
Her latest injunction expands on earlier rulings in the case. Talwani first issued a 14-day temporary restraining order July 7. After that order expired, she issued a July 21 preliminary injunction blocking the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood affiliates that either don’t provide abortions or receive less than $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year. The July 28 decision now applies nationwide, covering all Planned Parenthood affiliates.
The law, signed into effect July 4, directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to withhold Medicaid reimbursements from any abortion provider that received $800,000 or more in 2023. Planned Parenthood sued the administration earlier this month, arguing the provision violates the First Amendment. The Justice Department has defended the provision as a lawful effort to prevent taxpayer dollars from flowing to abortion providers.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields condemned the July 28 ruling as “not only absurd but illogical and incorrect,” according to Reuters.
“It is orders like these that underscore the audacity of the lower courts as well as the chaos within the judicial branch,” Fields said. “We look forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”
The administration is already appealing Talwani’s earlier injunction. In a July 14 legal memo, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote, “Planned Parenthood has no right to taxpayer money, and this Court should not invent such a right.”
