A federal appeals court on Dec. 30 allowed the Trump administration to withhold Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood clinics in the 22 states that sued over a congressionally-approved funding block.
Section 71113 in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a federal law signed by President Donald Trump in July, imposes a one-year ban on Medicaid payments to health care nonprofits, but does not mention Planned Parenthood by name. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that offers health insurance coverage to low-income Americans.
The defunding provision in the statute cuts off Medicaid payments to health care nonprofits that provide abortions and took in more than $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in fiscal year 2023. Planned Parenthood clinics provide services other than abortions—such as birth control and pregnancy testing—to Medicaid recipients.
An earlier version of the legislation set the defunding period at 10 years, but days before the bill received final congressional approval, the duration of the Medicaid reimbursement ban was reduced to one year.
Republicans have long tried to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood, arguing that taxpayer dollars should not flow to any organization involved in providing abortions.
Planned Parenthood has said the law unfairly singles it out for funding cuts and has led to at least 20 of its health centers closing their doors since the law was signed.
California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and other states sued, arguing the provision unfairly targets Planned Parenthood and was unconstitutional.
On Dec. 2, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Section 71113 in the 22 states.
The states demonstrated a “substantial likelihood of success on their claim that Section 71113 fails to provide clear notice [to states participating in the Medicaid program] as required by the Spending Clause of the United States Constitution,” the judge wrote at the time.
In other words, Talwani found that the states were likely to succeed in establishing that the provision imposes an unconstitutional retroactive condition on their participation in Medicaid.
On Dec. 30, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit paused Talwani’s order.
The panel held that the federal government has “made a strong showing” that it will likely succeed in demonstrating that Section 71113 does not violate the spending clause, and that the government is “likely to prevail on the merits.”
On Dec. 12, the First Circuit overturned a Talwani ruling in another case filed by Planned Parenthood in which the organization claimed the law ran afoul of the Constitution. Talwani had ruled that the law unconstitutionally punished the group for providing abortions.
A spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the Dec. 30 ruling was disappointing, but that Bonta remains committed to “ensuring vulnerable Californians can access the health care they need.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice for comment. No reply was received by publication time.
Reuters contributed to this report.
This article by Matthew Vadum appeared Dec. 30, 2025, in The Epoch Times. It was updated Dec. 31, 2025.