The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the Trump administration’s restrictions on family planning funds could go into effect, a move that would cut off millions of dollars from organizations like Planned Parenthood that provide abortions.
The Trump administration’s rules had been temporarily blocked nationwide by federal judges in Oregon and Washington, and statewide in California. On Thursday, a panel of judges in the 9th Circuit granted the request 3-0 from the Trump administration to block the preliminary injunctions, saying the different lawsuits underway needed to play out.
The decision means that clinics that receive federal family planning grants called Title X — which pay for birth control, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer screenings — will not be allowed to be housed in the same buildings as those that also provide abortions. The rules prohibit doctors who receive the funds from directly referring patients to abortions, leading critics to refer to it as a “gag rule.”
The Trump administration refers to the provision as the “Protect Life Rule,” and its supporters say that funding for family planning should not be used to help subsidize abortion providers. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement that he was “pleased” by the ruling.
“This decision is a major step toward the Trump administration being able to ensure that all Title X projects comply with the Title X statute and do not support abortion as a method of family planning,” he said.
The rule will go into effect everywhere except in Maryland, due to a lawsuit from Baltimore. The state legislature there also passed a bill that would reject the Title X funds if the Trump administration’s rules were attached to them.
Planned Parenthood’s president, Dr. Leana Wen, said the organization would continue to fight the rule from taking effect.
“We will be immediately seeking emergency relief from the Court of Appeals … We will continue to fight the Trump administration in the courts and alongside champions in Congress to protect everyone’s fundamental right to healthcare,” she said in a statement.
The rule applies to a $286 million-a-year grant that 4 million low-income people use. Planned Parenthood receives between $50 million and $60 million from the grants.
