Abortion-related travel could face another 'shock to the system' under new spending law

A new federal law that would “defund” Planned Parenthood could gut the system people have used to obtain abortions since the fall of Roe v. Wade, disproportionately closing the clinics in states that have become abortion havens for people living under bans.

Backed by President Donald Trump, the spending law prohibits reproductive health clinics from billing services to Medicaid if they provide or are part of health networks that perform abortions, are nonprofits and receive over $800,000 per year from the federal government. Although that part of the law is blocked for now, Planned Parenthood is gearing up for major financial losses that, unless new funds emerge, could shutter health centers across the country, particularly in states where abortion is legal and Medicaid programs more robust.

The move has been framed by politicians across the spectrum, anti-abortion activists and reproductive health providers alike, as an effort to eliminate a major source of funding for Planned Parenthood, specifically. Abortion opponents have claimed this “defunding” as their biggest victory since the 2022 Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end federal abortion rights.

Currently, about one-third of all of Planned Parenthood’s revenue comes from federal and state funding; Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans, is the biggest single source. Medicaid insures 1 in 5 Americans, and it does not cover abortion unless states allot their own specific funds to do so. But the program remains a major source of income for Planned Parenthood because it covers other services patients might get at clinics such as testing for sexually transmitted infections, breast exams and contraception. If clinics can’t bill any of those services to Medicaid, patients covered through the program will have to go elsewhere for health care — or simply go without.




https://michiganadvance.com/2025/07/15/abortion-related-travel-could-face-another-shock-to-the-system-under-new-spending-law/