Attorney General Ellison fights Trump’s unlawful defunding of Planned Parenthood
Joins 21 AGs in supporting Planned Parenthood lawsuit that so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ targeted defunding of its Medicaid reimbursements is unconstitutional
In Minnesota, Planned Parenthood receives $9M in Medicaid reimbursements for 35K patient visits a year for essential healthcare like cancer screenings and birth control
Losing Medicaid reimbursements could cause 10 health centers in Minnesota to close, especially harming rural and underserved communities
October 20, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit against the Trump Administration’s unlawful and unconstitutional efforts to defund its health centers.
The Defund Provision, enacted as part of President Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill Act” — which cuts access to healthcare for millions of Americans and is already wreaking havoc in health-insurance markets — blocks federal Medicaid funding for essential medical services like cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing, and wellness exams that are provided at “prohibited entities.” The bill’s definition of a “prohibited entity” was deliberately crafted so that this Defund Provision applies almost exclusively to Planned Parenthood, fulfilling a long-standing MAGA goal of punishing Planned Parenthood for providing and advocating for abortion care.
“The Trump Administration will stop at nothing to cut Americans’ healthcare, all so it can keep lining billionaires’ pockets,” Attorney General Ellison said. “Trump’s vendetta against Planned Parenthood, which provides essential healthcare to many tens of thousands of Minnesotans and millions of Americans a year, is unconscionable and unconstitutional. I’m proud to stand with my fellow attorneys general in support of Planned Parenthood and the Minnesota families that rely on the essential healthcare it provides, and firmly against yet one more attempt by Trump and the Republican Congress to punish perceived political enemies and run roughshod over Americans’ healthcare and constitutional rights.”
The Defund Provision threatens at least 200 Planned Parenthood health centers nationwide, affecting healthcare for more than 1.1 million people, many of whom are unlikely to be able to receive care elsewhere. Planned Parenthood operates 10 health centers in Minnesota, and these health centers rely on more than $9 million in annual Medicaid reimbursements to cover over 35,000 patient visits each year. These health centers provide essential reproductive healthcare and family planning services. If forced to close, Minnesotans, especially in rural and underserved communities, will struggle to find alternative providers for this vital and needed care.
Planned Parenthood sued to block the Defund Provision and the federal district court preliminarily blocked enforcement of it, concluding that Planned Parenthood had demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on their claims that the Defund Provision violates the First Amendment and the Equal Protection clause, as well as the prohibition on Bills of Attainder in the United States Constitution. The Trump Administration then appealed. The brief that Attorney General Ellison and the coalition filed today in the First Circuit Court of Appeals supports the preliminary injunction that Planned Parenthood won in federal district court and provides the First Circuit with additional evidence of the harm that the Defund Provision would have on Minnesotans and other Americans.
Relatedly, on July 29, Attorney General Ellison joined a coalition of 23 states in also suing the Trump Administration over the Defund Provision and in September, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. That case is pending in federal court in Massachusetts.
Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare in the United States. Because many other providers elect not to accept Medicaid patients, Planned Parenthood is often one of the only providers of reproductive healthcare services in rural and underserved areas, the brief states. In Minnesota, one in six female Minnesota Medicaid enrollees of reproductive age receive family planning services at Planned Parenthood.
In fiscal year 2023–24, Planned Parenthood provided 9.45 million services across the country, including 425,000 cancer screening and prevention services, 2.2 million contraceptive services, 4.1 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, as well as primary care visits, pregnancy tests and prenatal services. Of those 9.45 million services, Planned Parenthood provided approximately 400,000 abortion services, a small fraction of the services provided to patients. Planned Parenthood receives no federal funding for abortion care.
In the brief filed today, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition state that other providers do not have the capacity to handle the high volume of patients that Planned Parenthood health centers currently treat. If Planned Parenthood health centers are forced to close — which some already have been forced to do because of the Defund Provision — other providers would have to increase their caseloads by 28 percent to more than 100 percent, if they choose to accept the patients at all.
State budgets are limited, and using state funds to fully reimburse Planned Parenthood for all Medicaid services would strain state finances at a time where states are already dealing with unprecedented levels of federal funding cuts. In Minnesota, that would require $9 million.
Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing the brief are the attorneys general of Connecticut, California, and New York, who led the coalition, and the attorneys general of Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
