In the News

Last week, judges in separate cases issued rulings impacting reproductive health care providers on both sides of the abortion debate. On July 28, a federal judge ruled that the federal government must allow Medicaid to reimburse Planned Parenthood for patient care, temporarily overturning a ban instituted by the passage of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” while Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit works its way through the courts. Last month, Planned Parenthood sued Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and federal agencies over the provision in the bill instructing the federal government to end Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023.

U.S. Rep Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) visited the Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains’ (PPRM) Arvada clinic last week following the ruling to hear from providers and administrators about the impacts of Trump’s ban on Medicaid coverage for care at Planned Parenthood. The ban specifically prohibited Medicaid recipients from using Planned Parenthood for their health care. PPRM was forced to immediately notify around 15,000 patients, approximately 25% of their patient base, that they could no longer be treated at Planned Parenthood facilities, and were unable to offer an alternative for care. But last Monday, a federal judge ruled the federal government must allow Medicaid to reimburse Planned Parenthood for patient care.

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion care provider, but they also provide basic health care, including annual screenings, birth control, and other gynecological care. Each year, PPRM serves nearly 100,000 people at their 23 health centers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Planned Parenthood estimates that 1 in 5 women have relied on Planned Parenthood for care at some point in their lives. Patients access more than just reproductive services through Planned Parenthood, and increased barriers, especially for rural and low-income individuals, could cause harm when they have access to few alternatives. In the first week alone, the Arvada clinic had to notify 100 patients that they were unable to see them for their appointments that week. For many patients, Planned Parenthood is the only place they’ve ever known for getting the care they need. 

“This law was designed to punish people on Medicaid who rely on Planned Parenthood for life-saving reproductive and sexual health care,” said Adrienne Mansanares, president and CEO of PPRM in a news release. “It’s a cruel and calculated attack on health equity, and it’s having real, devastating consequences for our patients across Colorado.  In just the first nine days after the law took effect, nearly 1,000 patients across our region were denied essential care. These are people who couldn’t pick up their birth control, missed time-sensitive abortion care services, or were turned away from cancer screenings and STI treatment. These aren’t just numbers—they’re our neighbors, our friends, and our family members. Republicans in Congress who voted for this heinous bill should be ashamed of themselves.”

Pettersen heard about the struggles PPRM has experienced with the chaotic implementation and judicial process around this ban.

“Trump not only handpicked the radical Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe vs Wade, he has also stripped coverage for reproductive healthcare away for patients who rely on Medicaid through his ‘big ugly bill,” said Pettersen in a news release.  “Like so many women, I relied on Planned Parenthood for access to health care when I was uninsured. In many places, Planned Parenthood is the only option people have to access care and Donald Trump and the Republicans are leaving millions of Americans with nowhere to turn. As a mom, I know there isn’t anything more personal than deciding if you want to start a family and nobody should make that decision for you, especially Donald Trump. I’m outraged by his cruelty and the impacts this will have on women for years to come. Women and Americans deserve so much better than this.”

On Aug. 1, a Colorado district court issued an order permanently blocking Colorado’s law that prevents anti-abortion medical professionals from providing women doses of the hormone progesterone after beginning a medication abortion, the so-called “abortion pill reversal,” which has received criticism from abortion advocates and which the Colorado Medical Board does not consider to be standard medical practice.

Shortly after Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) signed the “Safe Access to Protected Health Care” package of legislation into law in 2023, a legal challenge was filed by The Becket Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based, non-profit law firm, on behalf of Bella Health and Wellness (Bella), a Catholic healthcare provider, against SB23-190, which targeted the marketing practices of anti-abortion centers and their use of progesterone to attempt to reverse an abortion. 

“Colorado tried to deprive pregnant women of the life-affirming care that is best for them and their babies,” said Dede Chism and Abby Sinnett, co-founders of Bella Health and Wellness in a news release. “We are overjoyed that the court has recognized our constitutional right to continue offering this support to the many women who come to our clinic seeking help.”  

The lawsuit, which named Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and District Attorneys John Kellner, Michael Dougherty, Beth McCann, and members of the Colorado Medical Board as defendants, argued that the law is a violation of Bella Health’s First Amendment rights.

Chelsea Mynyk of Castle Rock Women’s Health, licensed nurse practitioner and certified nurse midwife, holding a baby who was delivered after a successful abortion pill reversal.

“It is not disputed that by effectively prohibiting them from using a particular treatment for pregnant women, this law burdened Plaintiffs’ sincerely held religious beliefs…” the court wrote in its opinion. “[W]hile the clinical efficacy of abortion pill reversal remains debatable, nobody has been injured by the treatment and a number of women have successfully given birth after receiving it.”

Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal advocacy group that has filed numerous lawsuits in Colorado opposing LGBTQ+ non-discrimination laws, conversion therapy bans, and other issues of concern to Republican voters, issued a statement on the ruling. “Government officials can’t silence medical professionals and prevent them from saving lives,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot in a news release. “Many women regret their chemical abortions, and some choose to reverse the effects of the first abortion drug, which can save their baby’s life.

But Colorado’s law wrongly attempted to deny women the freedom to make that choice. The court is right to rule that the state can’t force women to follow through with a chemical abortion when a safe alternative is available — one that Chelsea and the pro-life plaintiffs in this case can skillfully provide.”