Maryland AG sues Trump administration over law defunding Planned Parenthood
BALTIMORE — Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown and a coalition of 23 states filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a key provision of President Trump’s newly signed budget law that blocks federal Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood health centers.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, argues that the “Big Beautiful Bill,” passed by a Republican-led Congress and signed into law earlier this month, unconstitutionally strips essential healthcare funding from low-income Americans by targeting Planned Parenthood.
“The States should not be co-opted into executing this unconstitutional provision,” the filing states.
The lawsuit comes just one day after Planned Parenthood secured a legal victory, with a federal court granting an injunction against the defunding clause. The court ruled that the provision violated the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on Bills of Attainder.
At stake are services for more than 1.1 million patients across 200 Planned Parenthood centers nationwide. The defunding measure halts Medicaid reimbursements for services such as cancer screenings, STI testing, wellness exams, and birth control. A report from the Guttmacher Institute indicated that alternative health providers do not have the capacity to absorb the influx of displaced patients.
The states’ new filing argues the provision violates the Spending Clause of the Constitution and would cause significant harm, including delayed STI and cancer diagnoses and increased unintended pregnancies. The estimated cost to state Medicaid programs is projected at $30 million over five years and $52 million over a decade.
Joining Attorney General Brown in the legal action are attorneys general from California, New York, Illinois, and 20 other jurisdictions, along with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
