A federal judge Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from cutting Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding, a provision in President Donald Trump’s sweeping “Big Beautiful Bill” that he signed into law Friday.
US District Judge Indira Talwani, appointed by former President Barack Obama, issued a temporary restraining order against the provision at the request of Planned Parenthood. Her order challenges the law’s yearlong ban on federal funding to abortion providers.
The order lasts for 14 days and requires the US Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to continue disbursing funds as usual to Planned Parenthood.
The order does not affect the funding cuts of other abortion providers, The Hill reported, though Planned Parenthood says that it is almost exclusively impacted by the law’s provision. Planned Parenthood reportedly argued that federal law already bans it from using taxpayer dollars for abortions, claiming that it is unconstitutionally targeted by the provision.
According to CBS News, the abortion giant called it a “naked attempt to leverage the government’s spending power to attack and penalize Planned Parenthood and impermissibly single it out for unfavorable treatment.”
Talwani’s order reportedly came just hours after Planned Parenthood had sued over the Medicaid cuts. According to The Hill, “The judge issued the decision before the government responded, providing no explanation beyond a brief note that Planned Parenthood had shown ‘good cause’ for her to immediately intervene.”
CBS News reported that a White House official responded to the ruling, stating, “The Trump Administration is ending the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion – a commonsense position that the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with.”