A federal appeals court ruled this week that the Trump administration can end Medicaid reimbursements to abortion giant Planned Parenthood’s centers in 22 states and Washington, D.C., lifting a lower-court injunction that had blocked enforcement of the policy.

In a ruling issued Dec. 30, a three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put on hold a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, thereby allowing the administration to enforce a provision of its sweeping tax-and-spending law while the case proceeds.

The panel’s decision is the latest legal volley in a months-long war over the provision. 

Talwani, an Obama appointee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, had blocked enforcement of the measure after a lawsuit filed in July 2025 by attorneys general from 22 Democratic-led states, led by California, Connecticut, and New York, along with Washington, D.C. It was the second time Talwani had halted the administration’s effort. She issued an earlier nationwide injunction in July, as CatholicVote previously reported.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who co-led the lawsuit, called the ruling “disappointing” and said the states would continue fighting to protect access to Planned Parenthood’s services for low-income residents, the Guardian reported. 

According to Reuters, Talwani had ruled in early December that the law likely imposed an unconstitutional retroactive condition on states’ participation in Medicaid, arguing that states were not given clear notice of the restriction when their Medicaid plans were approved. The appeals court disagreed, arguing the administration was likely to prevail in showing the statute was unambiguous and that Congress had authority to alter Medicaid funding rules.

The original law was passed by Congress as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act tax package. It bars Medicaid payments to tax-exempt organizations that provide abortions and received more than $800,000 in Medicaid funds during fiscal year 2023. 

Planned Parenthood Federation of America CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in July that the measure could lead to the closure of almost 200 abortion facilities.