Judge Talwani’s ruling protects some Planned Parenthood affiliates from Medicaid cuts amid legal debates.
Earlier this month, Boston Federal Judge Indira Talwani put in place a temporary restraining order to a section of the Big Beautiful Bill that would effectively withhold Medicaid money from Planned Parenthood. This was in place for two weeks at which point Judge Talwani issued a new decision last Monday which was seen as more of a mixed bag.
Judge Indira Talwani, of the Federal District Court in Massachusetts, said that in all, 10 affiliates were covered under her injunction, including Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, Planned Parenthood of Delaware, Planned Parenthood Greater Texas, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, and Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi.
That ruling was a mixed bag because Planned Parenthood has 47 affiliates nationwide and only 10 were shielded by her decision from having their Medicaid funds cut off. That meant the other 37 were about to be defunded. Even though its scope was limited, the decision took a lot of flak from the right. Here’s Carrie Severino writing at National Review:
Judge Indira Talwani has delivered what may be one of the most questionable judicial decisions in recent memory—and that’s saying something given the current judicial climate. Her handling of the Planned Parenthood funding case is a textbook case of judicial overreach.
Let’s start with the obvious: Planned Parenthood has no constitutional right to taxpayer funding. None. Yet Talwani attempted an elaborate workaround, invoking the “unconstitutional conditions doctrine” to argue that funding restrictions violated Planned Parenthood’s freedom of association.
