Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, announced he has joined 22 other Democratic attorneys general in a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from stripping thousands of Pennsylvanians of their healthcare and defunding Planned Parenthood.
According to Shapiro’s statement on X/Twitter, this illegal ruling threatens to close important health care facilities and deprive Pennsylvanians of life-saving treatments like family planning, maternity and postpartum care, and cancer screening and prevention.
Shapiro is the only governor to join the lawsuit from Democratic attorneys general, which makes his involvement noteworthy. Dave Sunday is the Republican attorney general for Pennsylvania.
With the exception of Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Bucks County, all Pennsylvania Republicans voted in favor of the Trump spending measure that includes the defunding clause.
Together with 22 other states, I’m suing the Trump Administration today to prevent them from illegally cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood, which would deprive thousands of Pennsylvanians of access to healthcare.This illegal ruling could result in the closure of essential medical facilities and deny
The defund provision clearly targets Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member health centers for providing reproductive services and their political advocacy in support of abortion rights, according to a statement on the lawsuit filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. The four criteria of the provision apply to the vast majority of PPFA health centers, regardless of whether they actually provide abortions, but exclude nearly all other abortion providers.
The legislation’s opponents claim that it would also have a detrimental effect on those who utilize Planned Parenthood for other services like prenatal care, cervical and breast cancer screenings, STI screening and treatment, and contraception.
A federal judge stopped the defund provision pushed by Trump and House Republicans on Monday, ruling that Planned Parenthood facilities should continue to receive Medicaid financial payments.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston stated that patients are likely to have negative health outcomes when care is interrupted or absent, according to PBS.com.
In particular, Talwani stated that limiting Members’ access to healthcare services raises the risk of a rise in STIs that go misdiagnosed and untreated as well as an increase in unwanted pregnancies and the issues that come with them due to a lack of access to effective contraception.
Early in July, Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates reacted to the defund clause in the Republican-backed law that was signed into law by President Donald Trump.
20,000 Medicaid-eligible Pennsylvanians would no longer have access to providers as a result of the measure, the group warned, and 91,000 patients—mostly women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals—would have to navigate an unprepared and disjointed healthcare system.
Donald Trump and all of the lawmakers who supported this bill doubled down on cruelty and political gamesmanship, according to a statement released by Signe Espinoza, executive director of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates (PPPA). Our futures, our rights, and our health are directly at risk this time.
The law is a full-scale assault on reproductive rights and basic health care, according to the PPPA’s statement. It reduces Medicaid funding, prevents Planned Parenthood from providing care, and imposes risky limitations that disproportionately hurt low-income individuals, communities of color, and those who already face care challenges.
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