Appeals Court Rejects Judge’s Attempt to Block Planned Parenthood Defunding

A federal appeals court has removed blocks that another judge placed on Congress’s attempt to defund Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. In a 3-0 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit disagreed on Dec. 12 that Planned Parenthood was likely to succeed in its legal arguments against the defunding measure. More specifically, they pushed back on the idea that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year, violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. “Preventing these entities from receiving funds if they continue providing abortion services furthers Congress’s interest in reducing abortions,” U.S. Circuit Judge Gustavo Gelpí said in an opinion....