“[I]n light of the First Amendment injury and harm to patient care that will occur absent an injunction, the public interest does not favor staying relief,” Talwani wrote.
The request was granted while Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit against the government proceeds.
The judge had previously placed a temporary hold on the defunding effort, and her latest order represented a more stable and long-lasting block.
Her order came after a hearing on July 18 in Boston, where attorneys for the Justice Department and Planned Parenthood argued over the impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The abortion provider argued that it was unlawfully targeted by the legislation, which would remove its federal funding.
Medicaid is a government program that offers health insurance to low-income Americans, funded by federal and state governments.
Talwani granted a preliminary injunction that, for now, blocks the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood member organizations that did not meet the threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in one year, or do not provide abortion care.
Planned Parenthood said in a statement published on Monday that it appeared the injunction applies to some, but not all of its members.
“The court has not yet ruled on whether it will grant preliminary injunctive relief to other members. We remain hopeful that the court will grant this relief. There will be nothing short of a public health crisis if Planned Parenthood members are allowed to be ‘defunded,’” the statement added.
The complaint stated that the defunding provision in the law “specifically targets Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member health care providers in order to punish them for lawful activity, namely advocating for and providing legal abortion access wholly outside the Medicaid program and without using any federal funds.”
Planned Parenthood said that the provision is unconstitutional and if allowed to take effect, would have nationwide impact, including increased rates of undiagnosed and untreated cancer and sexually transmitted infections.
The government wrote in opposition to the motion that “democratically elected components of the Federal Government collaborated to enact that provision consistent with their electoral mandates from the American people as to how they want their hard-earned taxpayer dollars spent.”
An original version of the bill would have blocked Medicaid funding for 10 years, but this was later reduced to one year.
The Department of Health and Human Services told The Epoch Times it does not comment on litigation.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
