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Republicans tried to defund Planned Parenthood in their tax cuts for the rich and no healthcare for everyone else legislation that Trump signed into law. The GOP thought that they could get around legal challenges by only defunding PP for a year, but the courts have stepped in and blocked the scheme.
The latest move was a new federal court order that replaced the temporary restraining order, as the AP reported:
The new order replaces a previous edict handed down by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston last week. Talwani initially granted a preliminary injunction specifically blocking the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood members that didn’t provide abortion care or didn’t meet a threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.
“Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,” Talwani wrote in her Monday 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.”
What Republicans think of as a big beautiful bill is an anchor around their necks. Since the defunding of Planned Parenthood is only written into the law for a year, there is a growing possibility that the move to defund Planned Parenthood will never happen, as the legislation could remain tied up in court for the next year.
There is so much of what Trump is doing that doesn’t stand up legally or politically. It is as if the Executive Branch has been turned into a reality show that has no serious interest in competently governing, but the incompetence has been combined with the extreme agenda of right-wing ideologues, which still has the potential to do damage to millions of Americans.
The best thing that can happen for those who could lose their healthcare, whether it be through Medicaid cuts or defunding Planned Parenthood, is for Trump to be disempowered through Democrats winning control of all or part of Congress next year.
What do you think about the new order blocking Trump from defunding Planned Parenthood? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
