Judge Shuts Down Trump’s Planned Parenthood Attack

7.28.25

Click to skip ahead: In You Love to See It, a judge has blocked the defunding of Planned Parenthood! America Supports Abortion digs into the language of polls. Policing Pregnancy reports that Texas’ AG is suing a New York county clerk. Meet the Creeps has an unfortunately disgusting story about the architect of Texas’ abortion ban. In the States, news from Texas, Iowa, Florida, and more. In the Nation, some quick hits. Finally, ‘Pro-Life’ Hypocrisy asks why anti-abortion groups aren’t trying to save babies in Gaza.

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You Love to See It

We really needed a win, and we got one! Donald Trump’s attempt to defund Planned Parenthood has been stopped—at least for now.

A federal judge said today that Medicaid patients can continue to get care at all Planned Parenthood clinics, ruling that the Trump administration had unconstitutionally singled out the organization for punishment. The decision from Judge Indira Talwani restores essential healthcare for millions while the case continues to be battled out in the courts.

A refresher: Earlier this month, Congress passed Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful” bill—which included a provision that prohibited any health providers that offer abortion services from getting Medicaid reimbursements. The law, which Trump promptly signed, threatens to shutter two-thirds of Planned Parenthood health centers, and one in four abortion providers nationwide.

Ninety percent of those closures would happen in states where abortion is legal. In effect, it’s a national backdoor abortion ban.

Clinics across the country began to feel the impact almost immediately: For instance, Planned Parenthood of California—serving more than one million patients per year, 80% of them on Medicaid—was set to lose $300 million before being shielded by today’s ruling.

Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit, and just last week Judge Talwani issued a preliminary injunction allowing certain reproductive health clinics—those not providing abortions—to resume receiving federal funding. But that still would have left millions of patients without care.

Today, the judge expanded her injunction to include all providers—though we’re still waiting on a permanent ruling.

“Patients across the country can still go to their trusted Planned Parenthood provider for care using Medicaid,” Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson said. “We will keep fighting this cruel law.”

As patients struggle to navigate the patchwork reproductive health landscape, the organization is advising patients to keep their appointments and call 1-800-230-PLAN for help.

America Supports Abortion

A poll released last week reminds us of two important things: Americans support abortion rights, and pollsters need to start asking better questions. Because while the new Associated Press-NORC poll shows that the vast majority of voters believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, the way the questions were framed likely still undercounted support for abortion.

In fact, like most polling on abortion rights, the AP-NORC poll effectively adopts a conservative framework.

For far too long, pollsters have asked voters when they believe abortion should be regulated rather than if they believe abortion should be regulated. They ignore the possibility that Americans don’t want government involvement in pregnancy at all. Which, let’s be real, is the most important question there is!

And here’s the thing: when voters are asked if they’d rather abortion be regulated by the government or decided between a patient and doctor, over 80% choose the latter.

But when polling questions echo Republican talking points, we get very different answers. Take the AP-NORC poll, which reports that most Americans support abortion access “in extreme cases.”

Setting aside the obvious—that any forced pregnancy is inherently extreme—consider how the language below:

We have questions about rape, fatal fetal abnormalities, and someone’s health being “seriously endangered.” Then there’s the last question:

“In general, do you think your state should or should not allow someone to obtain a legal abortion if…they don’t want to be pregnant for any reason?”

On its face, it’s innocuous—anyone reading this newsletter would have no problem saying ‘yes’ to that question immediately. But most Americans are bombarded with stigmatizing language about how women have abortions ‘as birth control’. Under that cultural reality, “for any reason” makes this hypothetical patient sound callous—especially when stacked up against the other questions that lay out specific, heart-tugging examples.

Imagine if instead the last question was whether someone should be able to get an abortion “if they didn’t feel they could take care of their existing children?” Or, “if they wanted to be able to go to college?” Essentially, this question collapses all of women’s hopes and dreams into “she’s getting an abortion for any old reason she feels like.” (Which, to be clear, would still be fine!)

Yes, pollsters want to gauge broad attitudes about abortion—not individual situations. But if that’s the case, why not ask the real question: Do you believe the government should be able to force someone to give birth, no matter the circumstance?

By putting the rhetorical onus on women, these polls stack the deck.

Let’s look at another example: the AP-NORC poll asks respondents, “Do you favor or oppose or neither favor nor oppose…protecting a patient’s right to obtain an abortion in another state?” Another way to ask the same question: Do you think government should be able to stop a woman from leaving the state to access abortion?

That’s not a biased question, and it’s not hyperbole. It’s the reality of what we’re dealing with!

Obviously, part of the problem is that polling language reflects existing cultural and political messaging—messaging is long overdue for change. But that kind of shift takes years. You know what doesn’t? Rewriting a poll question. Just saying.

Read more on polling from Abortion, Every Day:

The GOP's Polling Problem

New Poll: Americans Support Abortion Throughout Pregnancy

Policing Pregnancy

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just can’t stand it when women are able to get healthcare without his permission. It makes him so mad that, of all the things he could be doing for Texas right now, he’s spending his time suing a New York county clerk for refusing to file a motion against abortion provider Dr. Maggie Carpenter.

Remember, Paxton brought a civil suit against Carpenter late last year for allegedly shipping abortion pills into Texas, where abortion is illegal. But New York’s shield laws protect abortion providers from criminal prosecution and civil suits—that means even if Dr. Carpenter did ship medication to Texas, it was perfectly legal for her to do so.

That’s why Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck rejected Paxton’s attempts—twice!—to file a summons in New York ordering Dr. Carpenter to appear in a Texas court. After that second try, Bruck responded with this very satisfying note:

“The rejection stands. Resubmitting the same materials does not alter the outcome. While I’m not entirely sure how things work in Texas, here in New York, a rejection means the matter is closed.”

Like I said: satisfying! But today, Paxton’s office has filed a suit asking a New York court to compel Bruck to comply. In a statement, Paxton said, “Dr. Carpenter is a radical abortionist who must face justice, not get legal protection from New York liberals intent on ending the lives of as many unborn children as they can.”

The truth? Paxton and other Republicans are furious that shield state providers like Dr. Carpenter are helping women to get the healthcare they want and need in spite of state bans. (One in four abortions are provided via telehealth and pills.) They’re desperate to punish providers and patients, and are hoping they can get their interstate battle in front of the Supreme Court.

That’s why Dr. Carpenter was also indicted on criminal charges in Louisiana, and why another shield state doctor—California family medicine physician Remy Coeytaux—was sued by a Texas man last week. Republicans are trying to cover all their bases in order to take the issue through the courts.

In the meantime, kudos to county clerk Bruck for refusing to put up with Paxton’s bullshit. If I was closer to Ulster County right now, I’d send cookies.

Meet the Creeps

Ken Paxton is far from the only Texas creep—and this next one is a doozy.

On Friday, we reported that Texas Rep. Giovanni Capriglione—lead author of the state’s abortion ban—had been accused by an exotic dancer of paying for multiple abortions. The dancer, Alex Grace, says she had a decades-long affair with the lawmaker.

Is anyone really surprised? Of course not. But somehow, that’s not even the worst part.

Fair warning—what I’m about to tell you is not for the faint of heart or stomach. So feel free to skip ahead. In addition to claiming that the Republican paid for abortions, Grace also alleges that Capriglione shared some very disturbing fantasies about little girls. From the San Antonio Current:

“…Grace described becoming uncomfortable when Capriglione mentioned wanting to ejaculate into batter for cookies that would be sold at his daughter's bake sale. In the video interview, Grace stated that Capriglione said he enjoyed the thought of children—particularly young girls—consuming his semen.”

I told you it was bad, I’m sorry.

Maybe I’m just irrevocably jaded, but I have to say—this tracks. It stands to reason that men desperate to control women’s bodies would be interested in humiliating, violating, and hurting little girls, too. In fact, one of Abortion, Every Day’s first investigations was about the political director of Texas Right to Life being arrested for solicitation of a child. (The group tried to scrub their website of any mention of him almost immediately. But the internet is forever!)

As you can imagine, Capriglione will not be seeking re-election. But Texas women will have to live with his legacy for a long time to come.

In the States

Let’s stick with Texas for a moment: I’m sorry to say that Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast has announced that it will be shuttering two of its six Houston-area clinics. In a statement, president Melaney Linton said the group is dealing with the impact of the “relentless, coordinated efforts to dismantle access to sexual and reproductive healthcare across our region.”

“And let’s be clear: having to reduce PPGC’s future footprint in Houston is heartbreaking, infuriating, and the direct result of these sustained political attacks. But by consolidating our service areas, we are minimizing impact on patients and protecting access for the long-term.”

Houston Public Media reports that the organization will close its Prevention Park and Southwest clinics at the end of September, and that Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas will assume operations of the group’s four other Houston health centers.

I can’t begin to imagine how hard it is to do this work in Texas right now. I’m deeply grateful to the abortion rights activists who keep showing up despite the nonstop attacks, and my heart is with everyone whose jobs will be impacted. I hope they know how much their work means, and how much we appreciate them.

This week marks one year since Iowa passed its 6-week abortion ban. Iowa Public Radio points out that while the number of abortions performed in the state has dropped significantly, that doesn’t mean Iowa women are having fewer abortions.

In fact Megan Jeyifo, executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund, says the number of Iowans getting abortions hasn’t changed: “What has changed is where they are having to go.”

For example, while Planned Parenthood North Central States tells IPR that their abortions in Iowa dropped 74%, Iowa patients going to their Minnesota and Nebraska clinics increased 182%.

That’s to say nothing, of course, of the telehealth abortion pills that Iowa abortion-seekers are getting from out-of-state providers.

Worth remembering? Iowans do not want this ban. Gov. Kim Reynolds loves to talk about the anti-abortion law as “the will of the people,” but the polls don’t lie: over 60% of people in the state want abortion to be legal in all or most cases.

Finally, it never ceases to amaze me how quick people are to throw abortion rights under the bus. The editorial board of the Miami Herald says that Florida Democrats should stop arguing about abortion in the gubernatorial election and instead focus on issues “that are top of mind for voters,” like housing and property insurance.

Someone should remind them that Amendment 4 got nearly 60% of the vote—and that was in spite of a multi-million dollar state-powered disinformation campaign! Call out infighting, sure. But don’t pretend that abortion rights aren’t a massively powerful motivator at the polls.

Quick hits:

• The Missouri Independent on how Republicans’ efforts to overturn the will of voters has inspired a serious backlash;

• TIME magazine covers the story of a Tennessee woman denied prenatal care because she’s unmarried;

• And a new scoreboard on contraception access puts Kansas, Missouri, and Florida at the bottom.

The Trump administration will incinerate nearly $10 million in birth control, rather than give it to women in other countries:

900,000 implantable devices

2 million doses of injectables

2 million packets of oral birth control pills

50,000 intrauterine devices

If distributed, these contraceptives could have protected more than 650,000 women for one year and 950,000 women for three to 10 years.

In the Nation

• Rewire on contraception misinformation and young women;

• The Washington Post on what’s next for the abortion pill battle;

• The 19th gets into one of our favorite topics: how Republicans don’t want to say the word ‘ban’;

• And every once in a while a conservative headline reminds you that jfc these people are freaks.

‘Pro-Life’ Hypocrisy

I know we’re all sick over what’s happening in Gaza: As United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said yesterday, “When we think it can’t get worse, it gets worse.”

“Children are starving and dying in front of our eyes,” he says.

This week, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warns that “hunger has reached catastrophic levels,” with half a million people facing famine-like conditions. Eighty percent of the starvation deaths are children. That sentence feels impossible to read, let alone comprehend.

As I read stories of yet another child killed, or yet another doctor stripped of baby formula by Israeli troops, I can’t help but wonder where the ‘pro-life’ organizations are. Sure, we’ve always known that Republicans’ ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-child’ moniker was bullshit—they make that clear here in the U.S. every single day.

Still, you would think that organizations dedicated to ‘saving babies’ would be screaming from the rooftops right now about the thousands of dead and starving children in Gaza. But no, their ‘baby saving’ efforts begin and end with burning contraception or lying to women about their pregnancies.

Have they read about the breastfeeding mothers of newborns so malnourished they can no longer produce milk? Do they know that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that the crisis in Gaza is leading to “catastrophic birth outcomes for pregnant women and newborns”?

“The scale of suffering for new mothers and their babies in Gaza is beyond comprehension,” says Laila Baker, UNFPA regional director.

I don’t expect much from the ‘pro-life’ movement, I never have. But if they’re capable of it, I hope they feel shame.