Reproductive rights group condemns ruling as ‘backdoor abortion ban’ and says 200 US clinics may face closure
The Trump administration can move forward with its plan to “defund” Planned Parenthood by blocking it from receiving reimbursements from Medicaid, the US government’s insurance program for low-income people, a federal appeals court ruled late Thursday.
The ruling from the first US circuit court of appeals lifts a lower court’s preliminary injunction, which had stopped the Trump administration from enacting a provision of its tax and spending bill that axed Planned Parenthood’s ability to participate in Medicaid for one year.
Now, the reproductive health giant estimates that up to 200 Planned Parenthood clinics may face closure, given that 1.1 million Planned Parenthood patients are eligible for Medicaid.
“Cancers will go undetected, STIs will go untreated and patients won’t get the birth control that they need to plan their families and futures,” Alexis McGill Johnson, chief executive of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a press call on Friday. “Patients will have to travel further to get care and wait longer to get it as demand surges at health centers.”
