Court Rules In Trump’s Favor To Make It Harder For A Million People To Access Health Care

A federal appeals court on Thursday greenlit President Donald Trump’s mission to defund Planned Parenthood health centers.

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Trump administration can enforce a provision in the reconciliation bill, passed in July, to block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds because the organization offers abortion care services. This means that more than 1.1 million patients currently using Medicaid will no longer be covered for basic reproductive health care, including STI testing and cancer screenings, at Planned Parenthood clinics around the country.

Half of Planned Parenthood patients use Medicaid for their health care insurance, according to the organization. Without that Medicaid reimbursement, nearly 200 of Planned Parenthood’s 600 health centers are at risk of closing, and more than 90% of those closures would occur in states where abortion is legal.

The decision is “a devastating blow for patients across the country,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said during a Friday morning press call.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that the spending bill’s provision could take effect, denying hundreds of thousands of low-income patients their only health care option. In July, a judge temporarily stopped the provision from going into effect after Planned Parenthood sued. The Thursday night ruling granted a stay of that injunction.