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Planned Parenthood sues the Trump administration over funding ban

<i>Darron Cummings/AP/File via CNN Newsource</i><br/>A Planned Parenthood sign is displayed on the outside of the clinic in Indianapolis in August 2023. Planned Parenthood is suing the Trump administration over the “big beautiful bill.”

By CNN Newsource

Published July 7, 2025 3:41 pm

By Sarah Owermohle, CNN

(CNN) — Planned Parenthood is suing the Trump administration over the “big, beautiful bill” defunding its health care services, arguing the provision will have devastating consequences across the country.

The bill, passed late last week and signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, will bar Medicaid users from coverage with a health care provider that also provides abortion services.

While the law does not explicitly mention Planned Parenthood, the nationwide family planning and health care provider is in its crosshairs. The law prohibits federal funding for providers “primarily engaged in family planning services, reproductive health, and related medical care” that also provide abortion.

Planned Parenthood has warned that nearly 200 clinics nationwide – which also provide birth control, STI testing and treatment, and cancer screening – could close as a result of the bill’s one-year ban on funds.

Ninety percent of those clinics, Planned Parenthood says, are in states where abortion is legal.

“This case is about making sure that patients who use Medicaid as their insurance to get birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment can continue to do so at their local Planned Parenthood health center, and we will make that clear in court,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

The bill originally barred funds for ten years, before the Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, reduced the measure to one year.

The lawsuit was filed by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. It has been assigned to Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.

Anti-abortion advocates quickly railed against Planned Parenthood’s suit.

“Planned Parenthood’s desperation is showing as they run to the courts again to fix a crisis of their own making,” said Susan B. Anthony’s Pro-Life America director of legal affairs and policy counsel Katie Daniel.

The suit lands as Planned Parenthood also battles the Trump administration in court over cuts to a federal teen pregnancy prevention program. Lawyers for five Planned Parenthood networks argued in a federal District of Columbia court this June that administration’s changes to the program, including limits on language around diversity and equity, were vague and could bar Planned Parenthood from providing longtime services.