Pro-Life Advocates Celebrate Decision Allowing Planned Parenthood Defunding

Leading pro-life groups are celebrating a decision by a federal appeals court that allows the new federal law defunding the Planned Parenthood abortion business to proceed.

As LifeNews reported yesterday, a federal appeals court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, overturning a lower court’s ruling and delivering a significant victory for pro-life advocates seeking to restrict federal taxpayer support for the nation’s largest abortion company.

The decision, issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, reverses a July 2025 preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston. Talwani had blocked a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by the Republican-led Congress, which barred certain tax-exempt organizations that kill babies in abortions from receiving Medicaid reimbursements.

The three-judge panel ruled 3-0 to lift the injunction to allow defunding — with Judges Gelpi,Montecalvo, and Aframe all agreeing. Interestingly, all three are Biden appointees.

SUPPORT LIFENEWS! If you want to help fight abortion, please donate to LifeNews.com!

Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue, comments, “We are thankful that Judge Talwani’s shallow attempt to protect an organization that cares nothing for the American people, kills babies, and has defrauded Medicaid was uncovered and undone. Planned Parenthood is quickly running out of friends in high and dark places, and we praise God for it. Over 40 Planned Parenthoods have already closed – we expect that number to grow over the coming weeks, and we’ll celebrate every one. Planned Parenthood never deserved one American dollar of taxpayer funds, and when abortion clinics close, babies are saved.”

Newman thanked the court for not siding with planned Parenthood’s legal arguments:

Judge Talwani argued in her injunction that Planned Parenthood was being subjected to a “bill of attainder” – an act of a legislature which declares a person, or group of people, guilty of a crime and usually without a trial. In short, she argued that Planned Parenthood was being singled out and unjustly punished. Talwani also argued that Congress was “retaliating against [Planned Parenthood] in violation of the First Amendment, and…denying them equal protection of the law.”

In its motion to stay this injunction, the Department of Health and Human Services addressed the “bill of attainder,” stating, “Rarely if ever has an Act of Congress been enjoined on such flimsy grounds. The district court deemed the Medicaid funding restriction a bill of attainder. But the Supreme Court has only invalidated laws under the Bill of Attainder Clause five times in its history—on each occasion in cases involving extraordinary laws punishing groups such as Confederates and Communist Party members.”

HHS also pointed out that Talwani’s injunction “intrude[s] on both Congress’s Article I authority over federal spending and the Executive’s Article II authority to enforce the law.”

Clearly the federal appeals court agreed with this assessment and saw it fit to stay the injunction. Planned Parenthood, yet again, is defunded.

National Right to Life also welcomed the ruling — saying it restores Congress’s ability to ensure taxpayer dollars are not used to subsidize the abortion industry.

“This ruling is a victory for unborn children and for taxpayers,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “No organization has a constitutional right to federal funds—especially when those funds enable the taking of innocent human life. With this decision, the courts respect the will of the people, through their elected representatives, that taxpayer dollars should not support an industry built on taking the lives of unborn babies.”

“Today’s First Circuit ruling reinforces a basic moral boundary: taxpayer dollars should not bankroll abortion,” said Tobias. “We are encouraged that the rule of law has held firm in this matter.”