MANHATTAN (CN) - A federal judge on Monday allowed the Trump administration to continue withholding Medicaid funds from a network of Maine health clinics responsible for providing medical care for thousands of low-income patients.
U.S. District Judge Lance Walker, a Donald Trump-appointee in Maine's federal court, wrote in a 19-page ruling that it would take "a special kind of judicial hubris" to defy Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," the GOP-led tax legislation responsible for blocking Medicaid money from going to abortion providers, which Walker described as being a result of the democratic process.
The law restricted that cash from reaching Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States. But it also stripped Medicaid funding from Maine Family Planning, a much smaller network of clinics offering health care, including abortions, to low-income patients throughout the state.
Walker found that the government has every right to enforce this since, after the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, abortion is no longer a constitutional right.
"Over the years, political winds have shifted and Plaintiff can only be understood as voluntarily standing its ground, from a corporate governance standpoint, despite the dramatically increased likelihood of defunding after Dobbs," Walker ruled, denying Maine Family Planning's bid for a preliminary injunction restoring its funding.
Maine Family Planning sued the Trump administration in July over the implications of the tax law, arguing it was being unfairly caught in the crossfire in the government's attempt to take down its real target in Planned Parenthood. The Maine group noted that abortion makes up a fraction - just over 7% - of the overall services it provides, which also includes birth control, primary care and family support services.
"Without federal Medicaid reimbursements, MFP's ability to provide comprehensive health care to Medicaid-eligible patients is at grave risk," the group claims in its July 16 lawsuit. "The result is significant and irreparable harm to MFP and its patients, many of whom have nowhere else to turn for time-sensitive health care such as cancer screenings and STI testing."
Walker acknowledged this risk in his Monday ruling, writing that "many patients live significant distances from Maine's population centers and find it difficult to access a health care provider," which is precisely where Maine Family Planning looks to fill the gap.
But despite the "great demand" for these services noted by the judge, he ultimately found that it's not his call to block aspects of a law approved by Congress.
"However unwise is the prohibition of Medicaid funding to providers best positioned to deliver Medicaid services to underserved rural populations, the Judicial Branch, despite much generated confusion on this basic point, does not serve as an omnibus super-legislature to sit in final judgment as to which policy outcomes it prefers," Walker wrote. "That judgment rests with the people."
Walker's ruling means Maine Family Planning's network of 62 health centers throughout the state will continue not to receive federal funding as these proceedings continue.
A representative for the health group didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Monday ruling comes in stark contrast to a ruling last month by another federal judge, who granted a preliminary injunction in a similar case granting Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide resumed Medicaid funding, despite the "Big Beautiful Bill."
In that case, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts' federal court found that patients would likely suffer where care is disrupted or unavailable as a result of the withheld funding.
"In particular, restricting members' ability to provide health care 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," the Barack Obama appointee wrote in a 58-page order.
Source: Courthouse News Service
