Score one for the Trump administration in its bid to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood.
A three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that the abortion giant is unlikely to prevail in its legal challenge to the One Big Beautiful Act’s defunding provision, reversing two lower-court decisions by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani.
“Because Appellees are unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claims, we vacate the district court’s July 21 and July 28, 2025, orders granting the preliminary injunctions and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion,” said Judge Gustavo Gelpi in his 41-page opinion released Friday by the Boston-based court.
The judges — all of whom are Biden appointees — rejected Planned Parenthood’s contention that Section 71113 of the OBBA represents an unconstitutional bill of attainder, referring to a legislative act that punishes a specific individual or entity, saying that “punishment” refers to retribution for a past action.
“In contrast, Section 71113 looks ahead,” said Judge Gelpi. “It imposes no fine or other penalty for past conduct. Instead, it establishes new conditions on the receipt of appropriated funds in service of a new policy goal favored by Congress.”
The provision in President Trump’s signature domestic-policy law prohibits federal Medicaid funds from flowing to nonprofit healthcare providers that offer abortions and received at least $800,000 in state and federal Medicaid reimbursements in fiscal year 2023.
That definition encompasses 37 of Planned Parenthood’s estimated 47 affiliates, as well as two healthcare providers unaffiliated with Planned Parenthood, prompting Judge Talwani to conclude that the measure singled out the organization without benefit of a trial in violation of the Constitution.
Judge Gelpi disagreed, pointing out that if Planned Parenthood affiliates want to regain Medicaid funding, they may do so by halting abortion services.
“Section 71113 does not impose punishment on Appellees,” he said. “It instead uses Congress’s taxing and spending power to put Appellees to a difficult choice: give up federal Medicaid funds and continue to provide abortion services or continue receiving such funds by abandoning the provision of abortion services. That the law imposes a difficult choice on the recipient of federal funds does not demonstrate that Congress is punishing the recipient for past action – an intrinsic element of a bill of attainder.”
The ruling also said that the defunding provision does not violate the First Amendment or the Equal Protection Clause, again overturning the findings of Judge Talwani, an Obama appointee who sits on the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
Judge Talwani also blocked the defunding provision’s enforcement in a Dec. 2 ruling in response to a separate lawsuit filed by 22 states and the District of Columbia, although she granted a seven-day stay of her order, which was extended Monday by the appeals court.
The appellate panel’s Friday ruling was hailed by pro-life advocates on social media as “awesome” and “huge.”
“Victory: The 1st Circuit has THROWN OUT Judge Talwani’s decision blocking the defunding of Big Abortion, sending it back to the lower court to fix,” said Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America on X. “The only path to appeal is through SCOTUS now.”
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America said in a statement that the fight was “far from over,” although the organization did not say immediately whether it would appeal the decision.
“Today, a court has once again allowed the Trump administration to enforce Congress’s unconstitutional ‘defund’ of Planned Parenthood — enabling their attempts to block access to care for patients most in need and force Planned Parenthood health centers to the financial brink,” said PPFA President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson.
“The intent is clear: They want to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers and make it harder for everyone, everywhere to get the health care they need. But this is far from over,” she said.
Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts emphasized that its clinics are still open, noting that it received additional funding from the state to help make up for lost federal Medicaid dollars.
“The defund law is a cruel attempt to block patients from getting care and to pressure Planned Parenthood health centers in states like Massachusetts that protect reproductive freedom into abandoning our values, but we will never do that,” said the league’s statement. “No matter your insurance plan or status, we’ve got you.”
The SBA Pro-Life America tracker shows that 34 Planned Parenthood clinics have shut down this year and seven have announced they will close. Most of those did so before Mr. Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill on July 4.
