(LifeSiteNews) — The Trump administration can lawfully deny federal Medicaid dollars to the top abortion business in Maine, Judge Lance Walker of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine has affirmed.
In July, President Donald Trump signed into law his controversial “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (BBB), a wide-ranging policy package that includes a one-year ban on federal tax dollars going through Medicaid to any entity that commits abortions for reasons other than rape, incest, or supposed threats to the mother’s life, although that provision is currently held up by legal challenges.
Among those challenges was one by Maine Family Planning, which runs 18 facilities and stands to lose up to $1.9 million, which sought a temporary injunction. But Walker denied the request Monday, the Maine Morning Star reports.
“Over the years, political winds have shifted and [Maine Family Planning] can only be understood as voluntarily standing its ground … despite the dramatically increased likelihood of defunding after Dobbs,” he wrote. “Fair enough, but while its adherents may celebrate the firmness of its convictions, those convictions are not equal to the task of enjoining congressional will in this arena.”
A federal injunction in a separate challenge brought by Planned Parenthood remains in place, meaning that the restriction will apply to Maine Family Planning but not other abortion businesses in the state.
Within weeks of returning to office, Trump also began enforcing the Hyde Amendment (which forbids most federal funds from directly supporting elective abortions), reinstated the Mexico City Policy (which forbids non-governmental organizations from using taxpayer dollars for elective abortions abroad), and cut millions in pro-abortion subsidies by freezing U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spending.
In March, the administration froze Title X “family planning” grants to nonprofits it said violated its executive orders on immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, including Planned Parenthood affiliates in nine states.
Other Republicans have proposed standalone measures to fully cut off Planned Parenthood’s government funding: the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which permanently bans federal funds from being used for abortion; and the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, which disqualifies Planned Parenthood and its affiliates specifically. But they would require 60 votes to make it through the Senate.
