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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today joined a coalition of 23 states in suing the Trump administration over the sweeping budget reconciliation law (the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill”) signed by President Trump this month, specifically a provision that targets Planned Parenthood, and directly attacks the healthcare access of millions of low-income Americans. Attorney General Brown and the coalition are asking the court to block the Trump administration from implementing this devastating and unlawful provision, which will lead to widespread disruptions in preventive care and increase healthcare costs if allowed to stand. The States should not be co-opted into executing this unconstitutional provision.
The “Big Beautiful Bill,” is a sweeping Republican-led law signed by the President last month. One of the most detrimental parts of the law blocks federal Medicaid funding for medical services provided at Planned Parenthood health centers, including essential services such as cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing, and wellness exams.
Defunding Planned Parenthood threatens at least 200 health centers nationwide, affecting healthcare for more than 1.1 million people, many of whom are unlikely to be able to receive care elsewhere. Despite claims by Republican lawmakers that other healthcare centers can absorb these patients, recent findings from the Guttmacher Institute indicated that alternative locations do not have the capacity to serve the number of Americans who currently rely on Planned Parenthood for their healthcare.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the prohibited Medicaid reimbursements. Yesterday, the court granted Planned Parenthood’s injunction in full, concluding 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 today’s filing, the coalition argues that the restriction on Medicaid reimbursements for Planned Parenthood violates the Spending Clause of the Constitution in multiple ways. They highlight that the provision is likely to increase health risks, including delayed diagnoses of STIs and cancer and increased unintended pregnancies, which will result not only in widespread and devastating effects on the health of the most vulnerable Americans, but also increased costs of $30 million over the next five years and $52 million over the next 10 years in Medicaid programs. They urge the court to block the Trump administration from implementing the provision in order to prevent the tremendous harm this will have on public health and welfare of their states, as well as the increased costs to the states.
In filing the lawsuit, Attorney General Brown joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Josh Shapiro, in his official capacity as governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
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