by Tablet Staff
(OSV News) – While lawsuits proceed, a federal appeals court has allowed implementation of a provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that would eliminate Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood and its affiliates for one year.
The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston has put on hold a preliminary injunction previously issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts, which would have continued Medicaid funding throughout Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit against the Trump administration.
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The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which enacted key items of President Donald J. Trump’s legislative agenda on issues including taxes and immigration, includes a provision eliminating funds to health providers who also perform abortions – but just for one year. Although it was not named in the provision, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, sued in response, arguing the parameters for ending these funds effectively singled it out.
Twenty-two state attorneys general and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro have also filed a lawsuit challenging the provision.
In a statement praising the First Circuit Court’s actions, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said: “The American people, through Congress, spoke clearly with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Taxpayers should not be forced to spend a dime funding a brutal industry that ends at least 1.1 million lives a year.”
“This is a blow, but the fight isn’t over,” said a statement from Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “We will continue to fight.”
Federal law generally prohibits the use of Medicaid funds for abortion. Supporters of allowing Planned Parenthood to receive Medicaid funds argue the group provides cancer screening and prevention services – such as pap tests and HPV vaccinations. But opponents argue the funds are fungible and could be used to facilitate abortion, and therefore the organization should be denied taxpayer funds.
The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion.