Planned Parenthood defunding by Trump administration target of lawsuit by AG Letitia James, more than 20 other states

Calling it an "illegal targeting of Planned Parenthood," New York State Attorney General Letitia James says she has joined a coalition of more than 20 other state attorneys general and Pennsylvania in filing a lawsuit aimed at blocking a provision in the Trump administration’s "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."

In an emailed statement on Tuesday, the attorney general’s office said the act "illegally targets and defunds the nation’s largest provider of reproductive health care" because it "advocates for the right to abortion." The act, signed into law on July 4, prohibits Medicaid funding for nonprofit clinics that provide abortions — criteria, the statement said, that "almost exclusively applies to Planned Parenthood clinics."

"The federal government is once again playing politics with our health care system, with devastating consequences," James said in the statement. "This administration’s shameful and illegal targeting of Planned Parenthood will make it harder for millions of people to get the health care they need. New York will not be bullied into enforcing this unconstitutional attack on health care and reproductive freedom."

According to the statement, the coalition says federal Medicaid "already cannot be used for abortion services" — and the new law, coupled with legislative history and public statements by President Donald Trump and congressional leaders, "make clear" the purpose of the provision is "to specifically defund Planned Parenthood."

The White House did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the suit.

But, the attorney general’s office said, Planned Parenthood is "a core part" of the Medicaid provider network in New York, with 89,000 New Yorkers enrolled in Medicaid receiving care at Planned Parenthood clinics in 2023 — care that included tens of thousands of administered sexually transmitted infection tests, cancer screenings and contraceptive services, in addition to other family planning services.

Not only are new restrictions unconstitutional, the state Attorney General’s Office said, but they also are "retaliatory and deeply harmful" to public health.

The statement also said funding cuts would devastate access, especially for "low-income New Yorkers, young people and people of color," thereby forcing states into "a lose-lose position: either block Planned Parenthood from Medicaid entirely — forcing clinics to close and leaving patients without care — or pay for those services with state funds." That, James said, would lead to the forfeiture of millions in federal funding.

The suit is filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, naming the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., "in his official capacity as Secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services," the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and Dr. Mehmet Oz, in his role as administrator for both, as defendants in the case. Court records indicate the suit seeks either a preliminary or permanent injunction prohibiting enforcement of the defund provision of the new "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”