Planned Parenthood drops lawsuit against Trump administration's Medicaid
cuts
[February 03, 2026]
By KIMBERLEE KRUESI
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Planned Parenthood has moved to drop its legal
challenge against the Trump administration for cutting off Medicaid
funding to its abortion providers across the U.S.
Since July, Planned Parenthood's attorneys have been fighting to block
part of President Donald Trump's tax bill that they argued unfairly
targeted their clinics and would leave vulnerable patients with even
fewer health care options.
However, in December, a federal appeals court ruled that the Trump
administration could continue to withhold Medicaid funding from Planned
Parenthood and other health centers. Meanwhile, a separate lawsuit filed
by a coalition of mostly Democratic states also challenging the cuts,
was given a similar blow in January — though that legal challenge
remains ongoing.
A third lawsuit, also over the funding cuts, filed in Maine by a network
of medical clinics that was also impacted by the Trump tax bill, was
voluntarily dismissed in October.
Planned Parenthood moved to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit late Friday.
An email seeking comment from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert
F. Kennedy Jr., who was the named plaintiff in the lawsuit, was sent
Monday.
“The goal of this lawsuit has always been to help Planned Parenthood
patients get the care they deserve from their trusted provider. Based on
the 1st Circuit’s decision, it is clear that this lawsuit is no longer
the best way to accomplish that goal,” the organization said in a
statement.
Under the tax provision in Trump's tax bill, Medicaid payments would be
ended if providers like Planned Parenthood primarily offered family
planning services — things like contraception, abortion and pregnancy
tests — and received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023.
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 Planned Parenthood was not
specifically named in the statute, but the organization’s leaders
have said it was meant to affect their nearly 600 centers in 48
states.
Medicaid is a government health care program that
serves millions of low-income and disabled Americans. While federal
law bans taxpayer money from covering most abortions, many
conservatives have long argued that abortion providers like Planned
Parenthood used Medicaid money for other health services to
subsidize abortion.
Nearly half of Planned Parenthood’s patients rely on Medicaid.
According to Planned Parenthood, 23 of their health clinics have
been forced to close as a result of Trump's tax bill, which went
into effect on July 4. More than 50 clinics closed in 18 states last
year, with the majority of those located in the Midwest.
“President Trump and his allies in Congress have weaponized the
federal government to target Planned Parenthood at the expense of
patients — stripping people of the care they rely on," said Alexis
McGill Johnson, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood Federation of
America in a statement. “Through every attack, Planned Parenthood
has never lost sight of its focus: ensuring patients can get the
care they need from the provider they trust. That will never
change.”
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