ACLU Joins 100+ Abortion Storytellers on Capitol Hill in Advocating for Reproductive Freedom 

Kansas City, Mo. – A Jackson County circuit court judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of Missouri’s abortion bans and several targeted regulations of abortion providers. The new preliminary injunction clears the way for Missouri’s Planned Parenthood members to again provide procedural abortion care. In May, the Missouri Supreme Court clarified the state’s legal standard for issuing a preliminary injunction, forcing the circuit court to temporarily vacate its original orders, and effectively implement a de facto abortion ban. “While the clarification on the standard is welcome, its immediate consequence temporarily pulled back implementation of Missourians’ constitutional right to access abortion care and providers’ right to offer that care,” said Gillian Wilcox, Director of Litigation at the ACLU of Missouri. “This critical win begins to restore abortion access in our state, but Missourians must be vigilant and defeat the attacks on the constitutional rights that we secured at the ballot box last November.” “Abortion is legal again in Missouri because voters demanded it and we fought for it,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. “Care starts again on Monday in Kansas City. We’re not stopping until every Missourian can get the care they need, close to home.” “We are grateful that procedural abortion can resume in the state of Missouri, just as voters demanded last November. However, the whiplash has created immense confusion for patients in Missouri,” said Margot Riphagen, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers. “This decision is a step forward toward fully realizing Missourians' right to reproductive freedom, and the staff at our Central West End health center in St. Louis will work as quickly as possible to resume scheduling abortion appointments." The order did not address the pending request to enjoin other targeted restrictions that are preventing medication abortion access from being restored in Missouri. Previously, both Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers-Missouri submitted complication plans to satisfy the existing requirements to allow them to offer medication abortions. The Department of Health and Senior Services failed to respond to either affiliates’ submissions or follow-up inquiries for several weeks. Instead, the department manufactured an “emergency rule” that resembled many of the court-blocked regulations and cited it as the reason for refusing the submitted plans. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers-Missouri, who are represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, the American Civil Liberties Union, Crowell & Moring, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The full case is currently slated for trial in January 2026.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives today gave final approval to H.R. 1, a budget bill that guts Medicaid and will wreak havoc on our communities, sending it to President Trump’s desk for his signature. H.R. 1 is the biggest cut to Medicaid in history – slashing approximately $1 trillion, which will result in at least 12 million people being removed from the program. The bill also cuts off access to Planned Parenthood services for Medicaid enrollees and restricts higher education opportunities, all to fund a dramatic and permanent increase to an immigration detention and deportation apparatus that denies due process and violates human rights. Following the vote in the House, Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer with the American Civil Liberties Union, issued the following statement: “This reckless monstrosity is the most harmful bill to pass Congress in a generation. Instead of strengthening Medicaid, they’ve taken an axe to it. Instead of reining in ICE’s abuses, Congress is throwing the agency billions more to terrorize our communities. “When 12 million people are kicked off Medicaid, patients are no longer able to get lifesaving cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood, disabled people lose access to essential care and autonomy, and ICE ramps up lawless raids in our communities, the American people will remember who caused this devastation to our health, rights, and dignity. We won’t let them forget.”

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled today that Medicaid patients do not have a right to sue to enforce their right to a qualified health care provider of choice under the Medicaid statute. The decision in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic will facilitate some states’ politically motivated efforts to block low-income patients’ access to certain health care providers and may effectively defund Planned Parenthood and other disfavored providers by barring them from state Medicaid programs. “The majority decision in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic contradicts Congress’s clear purpose to give Medicaid patients their choice of qualified health care providers and also wrongly curtails patients’ rights to vindicate their choice of provider through Section 1983,” said Cecillia Wang, National Legal Director for the ACLU. “The decision may have the effect of blocking patients’ access to birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment for patients in South Carolina and potentially will permit state officials to override patients’ choice of provider based on political whims.” “The impact of this decision on our reproductive freedom will be compounded if Congress follows through on federal efforts to 'defund' Planned Parenthood by prohibiting patients from choosing Planned Parenthood health centers for their care,” said Deirdre Schifeling, Chief Political and Advocacy Officer of the ACLU. “Doing so would force the closure of hundreds of Planned Parenthood health centers nationwide, robbing people of their freedom to get reproductive health care from trusted providers in their communities and would result in shuttering 1 in 4 of the country’s abortion providers. "Make no mistake: our reproductive freedom is still under siege. The ACLU remains committed to fighting for Planned Parenthood, abortion access, and the fundamental human right to control one’s own body using every tool we have.

WASHINGTON — Today, the Trump administration rescinded guidance that reaffirmed hospitals’ obligation under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to provide health-saving and lifesaving abortion care to patients experiencing medical crises. The rescission of the guidance is yet another clear sign the administration is caving to its anti-abortion allies and reneging on President Trump’s campaign promises that his administration would not interfere with abortion access. The Trump administration’s announcement came the same day as an anti-abortion group challenging the guidance chose to dismiss its case, Catholic Medical Association v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This case threatened to jeopardize access to emergency abortion care nationwide. The Catholic Medical Association’s decision to abandon its case came just days after Doctors for America — represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Tennessee, Democracy Forward, and the National Women’s Law Center — moved to intervene as a defendant in the case to ensure that access to this critical care was vigorously defended. While the federal government was named as a defendant in the case, it had made no move to defend EMTALA and the right to emergency abortion care in the lawsuit. “The Trump administration cannot simply erase four decades of law protecting patients’ lives with the stroke of a pen,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, deputy director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project. “Regardless of where they live, pregnant patients have a right to emergency abortion care that will save their health or lives. By rescinding this guidance, the Trump administration has sent a clear signal that it is siding not with the majority, but with its anti-abortion allies — and that will come at the expense of women’s lives. The ACLU will use every lever we have to keep President Trump and his administration from endangering our health and lives.” “For decades, EMTALA has protected the ability of all people, including those who are pregnant, to receive life and health saving, stabilizing care in emergency situations. Yet, extremists have sought to undermine these protections for those who are pregnant following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs through filing baseless legal challenges like the one they dismissed today and through the EMTALA guidance rescission announced today,” said Skye Perryman, President & CEO for Democracy Forward. “The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw EMTALA guidance guaranteeing pregnant people medical care in emergency situations will sow confusion for providers and endanger the lives and health of pregnant people. Every American deserves the right to access the necessary care in emergency scenarios, including pregnant people, without political interference. Democracy Forward will continue to work with our partners to use all legal tools to defend Americans’ reproductive freedom, promote evidence-based and medically accurate information and care, and oppose efforts that place political ideology over patient care.” “EMTALA has long protected the right to emergency care, including abortion when it is the necessary treatment to stabilize a patient. Stripping away federal guidance affirming what the law requires will put lives at risk,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center. “To be clear: this action doesn’t change hospitals' legal obligations, but it does add to the fear, confusion, and dangerous delays patients and providers have faced since the fall of Roe v. Wade. At the same time, this administration claims it is considering ways to support ‘population growth,’ but it is actively dismantling the systems that protect pregnant people’s health and lives. The hypocrisy is staggering. No matter what political games the administration wants to play, we will continue to stand with the patients, doctors, and hospitals fighting every day to do what is right.” For nearly four decades, EMTALA has been understood by medical providers and the federal government — including both Democratic and Republican administrations — to require abortion care when that care is needed to stabilize pregnant patients in a medical crisis. As Doctors for America’s motion to intervene emphasized, stripping away EMTALA’s protections would put doctors in legal chaos and force them to violate their sworn duty: to save lives and prevent harm.