Oregon Sues Trump Administration Over Medicaid Ban Targeting Planned Parenthood

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield joined a coalition comprising attorneys general from 22 States and Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, suing the Trump Administration for blocking Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funding.

Oregon Joins Lawsuit To Overturn Trump’s Planned Parenthood Funding Block

The sweeping budget reconciliation law (a.k.a “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”) signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month contains a “Defund Provision” that targets Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) by blocking Medicaid reimbursements for essential healthcare services provided at Planned Parenthood health centers, including cancer screenings, birth control, and STI testing.

Without these reimbursements, preventative care will be disrupted as many Planned Parenthood clinics will be forced to close or reduce services, causing healthcare costs nationwide to increase.

President Trump and his congressional allies have been vocal about their goal to “axe” funding for Planned Parenthood for several years and the Defund Provision is the latest step in their multi-year effort to target and punish the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its members, as well as health centers who advocate for reproductive freedom and exercise their First Amendment rights to speech and expression.

As a state-federal partnership, Congress’s latest move has effectively conscripted the states to carry out these unconstitutional objectives when they process Medicaid reimbursement.

Attorney General Dan Rayfield said,

Defunding Planned Parenthood is not about fiscal responsibility—it’s about targeting healthcare providers that some politicians don’t like.

In Oregon, Planned Parenthood health centers, almost 60% of patients depend on Medicaid for care, ranging from cancer screenings to birth control and STI testing. Planned Parenthood, in return, relies on the over $16.7 million in annual Medicaid reimbursements to cover over 51,000 annual patient visits.

At least 200 health centers nationwide now face the prospect of closure, affecting care for over 1.1 million people, many of whom are unlikely to receive services elsewhere.

Republican lawmakers claim that Federally Qualified Health Centers can absorb displaced patients. Still, recent findings from the Guttmacher Institute show these facilities do not have the capacity to replace the care currently provided by Planned Parenthood.

The lawsuit follows similar legal steps against the Trump Administration, including

the Oregon lawsuit to stop the Trump-backed rule that risks insurance loss for 1.8 million Americans.

In a related lawsuit filed earlier this month by PPFA and two of its local affiliates against the Trump administration, the district court granted a preliminary injunction, ruling that the Defund Provision violates the First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause as well as the prohibition on Bills of Attainder in the U.S. Constitution.

In the new lawsuit, the coalition argues that the Defund Provision also violates the rights of the states and warns that implementation will lead to delayed diagnoses of cancer and STIs, increased unintended pregnancies, and higher healthcare costs.

The costs- estimated at $30 million over five years and $52 million over ten years- will have a severe effect on Medicaid programs.