Another Win for ‘Big Abortion’ Leaves Republicans Reeling

Over 20 Democratic-led states are now suing the Trump administration for trying to defund Planned Parenthood.

By Danielle Han | July 30, 2025 | 3:09pm

Photo: iStockphoto Abortion Politics

Another Win for ‘Big Abortion’ Leaves Republicans Reeling

When Barack Obama nominated Indira Talwani to serve as a U.S. district court judge in 2013, he said that she–and her co-inductee–would “[demonstrate] the talent, expertise, and fair-mindedness Americans expect and deserve from their judicial system.” As the then-president said: “I am grateful for their willingness to serve, and confident that they will apply the law with the utmost impartiality and integrity.” Well, it’s rare for me to say–but thanks, Obama.

In a rare stroke of good news, on Monday, Judge Talwani officially blocked the Trump administration from cutting funds to the Planned Parenthood Federation and its affiliates, saying it’s “likely unconstitutional.” In her court order, Talwani declared, “patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable…Moreover, decreased access to contraceptives and the corresponding increase in the number of unintended pregnancies caused by excluding Planned Parenthood members from Medicaid will likely result in an increased number of abortions.”

Most Popular

Monday’s ruling came as an extension of a 14-day injunction the judge filed earlier this month, a short-term cork on the One Big Beautiful Bill’s Defund Provision (seriously reaching peak ad nauseam with this thing). The GOP legislation, while not naming PP directly, targeted “any nonprofit that offers abortion services” and that receives more than $800,000 from Medicaid payments–effectively banning the organization from receiving federal funding, and provoking a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood and its affiliates in Massachusetts and Utah. As such, Talwani found the bill’s Defund Provision retaliated against PP for advocating for abortion access–thus violating the First Amendment’s free-speech clause.

Talwani agreed the bill’s text and structure were an obvious backdoor effort to defund Planned Parenthood, stating: “Plaintiffs are likely to establish that Congress singled them out with punitive intent.” Buuuuusted.

Thanks to the preliminary injunction, Planned Parenthood can continue accepting patients using Medicaid (though, in Ohio, at least two PP clinics are still planning to close). “We’re encouraged by today’s ruling, which protects access to care for Medicaid patients in Massachusetts while this case moves forward,” wrote PP League of Massachusetts CEO Dominique Lee in a statement on Monday. “At a time when reproductive health care access is under constant attack, this decision is a powerful reminder that patients, not politics, should guide health care.”

The struggle continues, however, and Trump’s administration is continuing to rail against the organization. Shortly after the ruling, the Department of Justice urged Talwani to not let PP “supplant duly enacted legislation with their own policy preferences,” citing nerves around–and I quote–“Big Abortion.” (Something Republicans love to forget is that the Hyde Amendment already blocks federal funding from being used for abortion services.)

Nonetheless, Monday’s win is one giant hurdle cleared. On Tuesday, over 20 Democratic-led states such as Maryland and Maine filed a lawsuit against the federal government, saying the Defund Provision not only violates First Amendment rights–but also the equal protection clause, as well as a prohibition on Bills of Attainder. If the lawsuit is successful, it could mean that the Defund Provision gets blocked and found unconstitutional.

“We need to just call it what it is: punishment for Planned Parenthood’s constitutionally protected advocacy for abortion,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at Tuesday’s press conference. “The hypocrisy is really hard to ignore: a party that claims to be defenders of free speech only seem to care about it when it aligns with their own agenda.”

Like what you just read? You’ve got great taste. Subscribe to Jezebel, and for $5 a month or $50 a year, you’ll get access to a bunch of subscriber benefits, including getting to read the next article (and all the ones after that) ad-free. Plus, you’ll be supporting independent journalism—which, can you even imagine not supporting independent journalism in times like these? Yikes.