U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of Boston, Massachusetts, blocked a major provision in President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” preventing the ban of Medicaid funds from going to Planned Parenthood.
“Plaintiff States argue that Section 71113 fails to provide clear notice in two ways: first, they contend that the definition of a ‘prohibited entity,’ together with the provision’s effective date, imposes vague and contradictory conditions on them; and second, they argue that removing ‘prohibited entities’ from health care providers eligible to provide care for Medicaid participants is a retroactive condition that the Plaintiff States could not have anticipated when they joined Medicaid,” the ruling says.
The judge added that the ban “does not furnish states with clear notice as to the meaning and application of Section 71113 criteria” for ending funding.
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) argued that the judge could be impeached for the ruling. “It would take an act of Congress to defund Planned Parenthood,” he wrote on X. “So Congress did precisely that. To suggest Congress somehow lacks the authority to do that is insane—and potentially impeachable.”
Talwani issued a temporary restraining order on the provision in July. The order required the Department of Health and Human Services to continue Medicaid disbursements “in the customary manner” to Planned Parenthood’s national and affiliate clinics, including those in Massachusetts and Utah. She claimed that Medicaid disruptions would likely cause severe public health consequences.
The provision in President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill states that no Medicaid dollars “shall be used to make payments to a prohibited entity for items and services furnished during a 10-year period.”
