Court delivers blow to Planned Parenthood by allowing Title X abortion restrictions

A federal appeals court delivered a setback Thursday to Planned Parenthood by lifting injunctions on the Trump administration’s rule prohibiting family-planning funds for facilities that perform or support abortions.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said that keeping in place the injunctions issued by California, Oregon and Washington would force the Department of Health and Human Services to violate its interpretation of federal law.

“Absent a stay, HHS will be forced to allow taxpayer dollars to be spent in a manner that it has concluded violates the law, as well as the Government’s important policy interest in ensuring that taxpayer dollars do not go to fund or subsidize abortions,” the judges said in a 3-0 opinion.

The Ninth Circuit is known as the nation’s most liberal appeals court, but all three panel judges — Carlos Bea, Consuelo Callahan and Edward Leavy — were appointed by Republican presidents.

Nearly two dozen blue states and pro-choice groups, challenged the administration’s February overhaul of Title X grants for family planning, which prohibits grants to clinics that “perform, promote, refer to, or support abortion as a method of family planning.”