October 1, 2026
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The U.S. government can continue to withhold Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood and other health centers that provide abortions as a coalition of mostly Democratic states challenges the cuts, a federal appeals court ruled.
The decision on Tuesday is one of multiple lawsuits filed after President Donald Trump signed tax breaks and spending cuts legislation in July that eliminated Medicaid reimbursement for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers that received more than $800,000 in 2023. The lawsuits include two filed in Massachusetts by 21 states and the District of Columbia and Planned Parenthood itself, and a third filed in Maine by a network of medical clinics there.
In the Massachusetts cases, a federal judge issued separate preliminary injunctions siding with Planned Parenthood in July and the coalition of states in early December. But an appeals court overturned the first order on Dec. 12 and put the second on hold on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Maine lawsuit has been dismissed at the request of the clinics that challenged the cuts.
Maine Family Planning, which operates 18 clinics in many of the poor and rural areas of the state, shut down its primary care operations in October due to the loss of funding.
In August, a federal judge ruled against restoring funding as the lawsuit proceeded, and the clinics appealed. But earlier this month, the network notified the court that it was ending the lawsuit.
Health and Human Services press secretary Emily Hilliard said Wednesday the department doesn’t comment on litigation but added, “We remain committed to protecting the integrity of Medicaid programs to ensure full compliance with the law.”
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