Along with 23 other states, Attorney General Anthony G. Brown filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming that a clause in the recently passed budget reconciliation law that prohibits Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood services is unconstitutional, would have a detrimental effect on public health, and would raise state healthcare costs.
According to the press release that was sent out on Tuesday, July 29: Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today joined a group of 23 states in suing the Trump administration for a provision that directly attacks the healthcare access of millions of low-income Americans and targets Planned Parenthood in the comprehensive budget reconciliation law, also known as the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which President Trump signed this month. The coalition and Attorney General Brown are requesting that the court restrain the Trump administration from enacting this disastrous and illegal clause, which, if left in place, will raise healthcare prices and cause extensive interruptions in preventive care. It is not appropriate to coerce the states into carrying out this unconstitutional clause.
The president signed the Big Beautiful Bill, a comprehensive measure driven by Republicans, last month. One of the law’s most harmful provisions prevents federal Medicaid from paying for medical treatments at Planned Parenthood health centers, including vital services like wellness checks, STI testing, birth control, and cancer screenings. More than 1.1 million people’s access to healthcare is at risk due to the defunding of Planned Parenthood, endangering at least 200 health centers across the country, many of whom are unlikely to be able to get care elsewhere.
Republican politicians have claimed that other medical facilities can take these patients, but new research from the Guttmacher Institute showed that other facilities are unable to provide care for the number of Americans who now use Planned Parenthood.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America sued the Trump administration, arguing that Medicaid reimbursements were illegal. The court approved Planned Parenthood’s injunction in full yesterday, finding that the Defund Provision is unconstitutional under the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and the U.S. Constitution’s ban on Bills of Attainder.
The organization contends in today’s lawsuit that the Medicaid reimbursement cap on Planned Parenthood is a multifaceted violation of the Constitution’s Spending Clause. They point out that the provision is likely to raise health risks, such as delayed cancer and STI diagnoses and an increase in unwanted pregnancies, which will have a devastating impact on the health of the most vulnerable Americans. In addition, the provision is expected to increase Medicaid program costs by $30 million over the next five years and $52 million over the next ten.
To avoid the severe impact this will have on the welfare and public health of their states, as well as the additional expenses to the states, they implore the court to stop the Trump administration from enforcing the clause.
Attorney General Brown joins attorneys general Josh Shapiro, in his official capacity as Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Oregon in filing the lawsuit.
