AG James Wins Court Order Blocking Federal Attempt to Strip Planned Parenthood of Medicaid Funds

NEW YORK — New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday secured a federal court order preventing the U.S. government from cutting off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, a move she said would have jeopardized health care access for millions of low-income patients nationwide.

The ruling, issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, grants a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of a provision in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The provision sought to bar Medicaid funds from going to nonprofit health clinics that both provide abortions and receive a certain threshold of Medicaid funding — criteria that apply almost exclusively to Planned Parenthood.

James and a coalition of 21 attorneys general, along with the governor of Pennsylvania, sued the Department of Health and Human Services in July to halt the measure, arguing it was unlawful and would inflict immediate harm on public health systems in their states.

“This administration’s attempt to target and defund Planned Parenthood is as dangerous as it is illegal,” James said in a statement. “Planned Parenthood provides invaluable health care services for millions of people throughout the country. I will not allow this administration to threaten New Yorkers’ health care and reproductive freedom with its political games.”

In New York alone, more than 89,000 Medicaid enrollees received care at Planned Parenthood clinics in 2023.

According to the suit, the clinics provide cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, contraceptive services, and other reproductive health care. The coalition argued that if the provision took effect, states would be forced either to cut off Planned Parenthood entirely — potentially shuttering clinics and leaving patients without care — or replace the lost federal dollars with state funds.

The court’s order requires HHS to continue reimbursing Medicaid claims submitted by Planned Parenthood clinics and to continue sending Medicaid funding to all states in the coalition while the lawsuit proceeds.

Joining James in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as Pennsylvania.