WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has filed its own motion against a federal judge’s temporary block of a new portion of federal law temporarily defunding Planned Parenthood, taking aim at Planned Parenthood’s legal claims and asserting its own legal authority to exclude abortion practitioners from federal programs.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed his controversial “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (BBB) into law, a wide-ranging policy package that includes a one-year ban on federal tax dollars going through Medicaid to any organization that commits abortions for reasons other than rape, incest, or supposed threats to the mother’s life. 

Days later, Planned Parenthood sued, and U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani swiftly issued a temporary restraining order against the defunding provision, not only barring the administration from enforcing it but also “tak[ing] all steps necessary to ensure that Medicaid funding continues to be disbursed in the customary manner and time frames to Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its members; Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts; and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah.”

On July 14, HHS filed a motion in support of the defunding language, saying that Planned Parenthood’s demands are “legally groundless and must be firmly rejected.”

“Section 71113 is not a bill of attainder, because it merely declines to provide federal funding (which is not legislative punishment), and it does so based in part on future conduct (not by specifying a target or penalizing irreversible past conduct),” it argues. “There is no viable First Amendment challenge, because providing abortions is conduct, not speech, and courts may not invalidate federal legislation based on speculation about illicit subjective motives. Nor is there any serious equal protection argument, because Congress has broad line-drawing power when it comes to allocating scarce federal funds, and it exercised that power rationally here. Because all three of these facial claims fail, Planned Parenthood’s request for an injunction that would apply to all of its members is entirely unsupported.”

“Loss of funding is not irreparable harm,” HHS adds. “And the Amended TRO was wrong to identify irreparable harm to patients, since they are not parties to the litigation and there is no evidentiary basis to believe they will be unable to find care from other providers.”

“Plaintiffs insist that because Medicaid funds already do not cover abortions except in narrow circumstances, the provision operates only to prohibit Medicaid reimbursement for other services,” it goes on. “So what? Congress may make a policy choice not to contract with abortion providers even for covered medical care. Further, because money is fungible, Congress could reasonably conclude that withholding Medicaid funding from entities that perform abortions will discourage at least some of those abortions. Indeed, Plaintiffs’ own declarant asserts that denial of Medicaid funding may reduce their provision of abortions.”

Both sides were back in court Friday arguing their respective positions; Talwani is expected to announce whether she is extending the injunction later today.

Within weeks of returning to office, Trump began enforcing the Hyde Amendment (which forbids most federal funds from directly supporting elective abortions), reinstated the Mexico City Policy (which forbids non-governmental organizations from using taxpayer dollars for elective abortions abroad), and cut millions in pro-abortion subsidies by freezing U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spending. 

In March, the administration froze Title X “family planning” grants to nonprofits it said violated its executive orders on immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, including Planned Parenthood affiliates in nine states.

Other Republicans have proposed standalone measures to fully cut off Planned Parenthood’s government funding: the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which permanently bans federal funds from being used for abortion; and the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, which disqualifies Planned Parenthood and its affiliates specifically. But they would require 60 votes to make it through the Senate.