Federal judge blocks Trump's defunding of Planned Parenthood

SEATTLE - A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to block the Trump administration's attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown announced Wednesday.

AG Brown announced that a coalition of states, including Washington, were granted the injunction by the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, which blocks a provision in the federal budget which attorneys general argued "unlawfully targets Planned Parenthood."

Planned Parenthood is a sexual health and family planning nonprofit organization, and is the largest provider of abortions and reproductive health services in the country.

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The Attorney General's Office says the Trump administration's budget includes a provision to block Medicaid reimbursements for any health services obtained at Planned Parenthood.

"This victory will allow patients to continue to access essential health services like primary care, cancer screenings, and family planning," said AG Brown. "We will continue fighting against any attempt to strip Medicaid funding from Washington."

AG Brown argues that defunding Planned Parenthood threatens at least 200 locations nationwide, including 30 in Washington, and affects healthcare for more than 1.1 million people. Brown further argues this would strip from $11.8 million from the state.

In July, Brown joined a 24-state coalition suing the Trump administration for this budget provision, and a federal judge granted a temporary block while they review the merits of the case. The AGO says the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts wrote that "the states are likely to succeed" in this lawsuit, and that the "defund provision would result in irreparable harm to the states if allowed to stay in effect."

What's next:

However, in the related lawsuit Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. v. Kennedy, a U.S. Appeals Court granted the Trump administration an order to allow this defund provision.

The AGO notes that the Massachusetts injunction runs independent of the Appeals Court order, and that it would need to be separately appealed to keep that provision.

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