Judge blocks 'One Big Beautiful Bill' provision barring Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood

A federal judge on Monday blocked a provision in the Republicans' "One Big Beautiful Bill" that barred Medicaid reimbursements from going to Planned Parenthood.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston, an Obama appointee, issued a preliminary injunction, saying it was likely unconstitutional to specifically target Planned Parenthood's health centers for punishment for providing abortions, Reuters reported.

The provisions contained in the bill prohibit abortion providers from receiving Medicaid funding for up to one year for any other reproductive health services they may provide.

The Department of Justice argued that "the bill stops federal subsidies for Big Abortion" and urged the judge not to let Planned Parenthood and its members "supplant duly enacted legislation with their own policy preferences."

Talwani ruled that the law's text and structure were clearly crafted for all members of the parent organization Planned Parenthood Federation of America, even if they were not named. Because of the specificity, it likely makes the provision an unconstitutional "bill of attainder," an act of Congress that wrongly seeks to inflict punishment without a trial, according to the judge.

"Plaintiffs are likely to establish that Congress singled them out with punitive intent," Talwani wrote.

She added that the provision violated the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment equal protection rights for Planned Parenthood, and burdened some of its members who do not provide abortions to associate with their parent organization in a likely violation of the First Amendment.

"We will keep fighting this cruel law so that everyone can get birth control, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, and other critical health care, no matter their insurance," Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement.