A U.S. District Court judge has denied Maine Family Planning's request for a preliminary injunction to immediately restore federal Medicaid funding.
The state's largest network of reproductive health care clinics said the loss of $1.9 million in annual funding may force them to close clinics, cut services, and limit the number of patients they can serve.
Maine Family Planning said it's already stopped accepting new primary care patients enrolled in MaineCare since president Trump signed the big, beautiful budget bill into law in July.
The budget blocks health care providers who also offer abortions from participating in Medicaid. Maine Family Planning, which operates 18 clinics across the state, sued.
But on Monday, Maine U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker said that the organization failed to make a strong case that the policy unlawfully treats them differently from other Medicaid providers, and also failed to meet all criteria for an injunction.
Spokesperson Olivia Pennington called the decision extremely frustrating, and Maine Family Planning is considering next steps.
"For most of our patients, we are the first and only provider they see in a year," Pennington said. "And about half of our non-abortion patients use Medicaid as their insurance, so we know this is going to have a dramatic impact on people's health here in Maine."
The Center for Reproductive Rights filed the lawsuit on behalf of Maine Family Planning.
The Center's president and CEO, Nancy Northup, said that the Trump Administration and Congress "would rather topple a statewide health safety network than let low-income patients receive a cancer screening at a clinic that also offers abortions. This ruling takes a sledgehammer to an already overstretched health care network, and Mainers statewide will feel the effects of defunding Maine Family Planning, regardless of their insurance status.”
In July, Planned Parenthood was granted an injunction against the policy in a separate lawsuit filed in Boston.
