Twenty state attorneys general try to stop defunding of Planned Parenthood

 By Brandon Porter - Posted at Baptist Press:

Published July 30, 2025

NASHVILLE (BP) – More than 20 states sued the Trump administration July 29 to overturn the president’s effort to defund Planned Parenthood. The organization is the nation’s largest recipient of Medicaid payments.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the move to block Medicaid payments an attack against women’s health care.

“This attack isn’t just about abortion,” he said in a news conference, “It’s about denying vulnerable communities access to care they rely on every day.”

U.S. Department Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew G. Nixon pushed back on Bonta’s comments.

“States should not be forced to fund organizations that have chosen political advocacy over patient care,” he said in an email to the Associated Press. “It is a shame that these Democrat attorney generals seek to undermine state flexibility and disregard longstanding concerns about accountability.”

The suit comes a day after a federal judge blocked the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood. The move was included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress in early July and signed by President Trump July 4.

“Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,” U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani wrote in her order. “In particular, restricting Members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs.”

Still, Southern Baptist ethics leader Miles Mullin says the judge’s ruling flies in the face of many Americans.

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