A federal judge in Boston has just issued an order that indefinitely blocks the Trump administration from withholding Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood, saying that the provision in the Big Beautiful Bill likely is unconstitutional retaliation.

Judge Indira Talwani in Federal District Court in Massachusetts issued the order Monday, as the New York Times reports, blocking the Medicaid provision from taking effect. Judge Talwani, in the order, says that because the bill specifically targeted nonprofit clinics that provide abortions and receive over $800,000 in annual Medicaid reimbursements. And because there exists no other network of nonprofit abortion providers that fit this description, the law likely amounts to "legislative punishment" and a specific retaliatoin against Planned Parenthood. Judge Talwani also found that the policy is likely a violation of the organization's First Amendment rights.

Judge Talwani previously issued an order, just last week, that temporarily stripped all of Planned Parenthood's California clinics of their Medicaid funding, amounting to around $300 million annually. And the order led to the immediate shutdown of five clinics operated by the affiliate Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, including those in South San Francisco and San Mateo. (Just this morning, the Chronicle reported on one patient of one of those other locations, in Santa Cruz, a young man with spastic quadriplegia — a severe form of cerebral palsy — who was left without a primary care source by the closure.)

But now, quickly thereafter, the latest order restores Medicaid funding to all of Planned Parenthood's clinics.

It's not yet clear if or when Planned Parenthood Mar Monte plans to reopen the shuttered clinics.

Judge Talwani's order notes that it is "not directing the federal government to fund elective abortions" but only that it is granting "preliminary relief that prevents Defendants from targeting a specific group of entities — Planned Parenthood Federation Members — for exclusion from reimbursements under the Medicaid program." She further writes that the plaintiffs have "established a substantial likelihood" that they will prevail in court in proving that they were specifically targeted by the bill's language.

Federal law already prohibits the use of Medicaid funds for abortion care, however Planned Parenthood cites that 90% of the care it provides annually at its California clinics is related to primary care, sexual wellness, contraception, and STD treatment.

Judge Talwani says that the government's new law "requires each member [clinic] to disaffiliate with Planned Parenthood Federation and stop providing abortion to continue participating in Medicaid programs," and that this would effectively "kneecap" all of Planned Parenthood.

She further writes that the law would cause many clinics to have to curtail or cut services, and that "Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable."

The order notes multiple occasions over the years in which Republican legislators in Congress expressed excitement over their intention to "defund Planned Parenthood," and admitting that this had been specifically part of their project for multiple years.

Previously: Planned Parenthood Closes South San Francisco Location, Four Others Due to Trump Budget Cuts

Photo of the South San Francisco Planned Parenthood clinic via Google Street View