Planned Parenthood drops lawsuit against Trump administration’s Medicaid cuts

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Planned Parenthood has moved to drop its legal challenge against the Trump administration for cutting off Medicaid funding to its abortion providers across the U.S.

Since July, Planned Parenthood’s attorneys have been fighting to block part of President Donald Trump’s tax bill that they argued unfairly targeted their clinics and would leave vulnerable patients with even fewer health care options.

However, in December, a federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration could continue to withhold Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood and other health centers. Meanwhile, a separate lawsuit filed by a coalition of mostly Democratic states also challenging the cuts, was given a similar blow in January — though that legal challenge remains ongoing.

A third lawsuit, also over the funding cuts, filed in Maine by a network of medical clinics that was also impacted by the Trump tax bill, was voluntarily dismissed in October.

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