Planned Parenthood regained access to federal Medicaid funding for non-abortion services on Saturday after a one-year federal ban expired.  The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law last July, temporarily froze Medicaid funding to organizations providing abortions that received more than $800,000 in reimbursements in fiscal year 2023. The ban mainly affected Planned Parenthood, whose leaders called it “a direct assault on reproductive freedom and public health.” “While we are relieved to see this ‘defund’ end, it is not lost on us that nearly 30 health centers, serving thousands of patients nationwide, have been forced to close during the past year while this harmful policy was in place,” said Amanda Skinner, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE).  According to Skinner, Planned Parenthood provides care to roughly 25,000 patients with Medicaid-funded HUSKY coverage in Connecticut. While the bill was in effect, Connecticut boosted state funding for Planned Parenthood clinics. In February 2025, the state legislature passed emergency legislation allocating $800,000 in one-time funding to PPSNE. In December 2025, Gov. Ned Lamont announced an additional $10.4 million funding allocation to fully offset federal Medicaid funding losses. With the ban expiring, states can now decide whether to continue to exclude providers from their Medicaid program.  In a statement, Cathryn Vaulman, a spokeperson for Lamont, said, “Connecticut has among the strongest protections for abortion and reproductive health services and providers in the country. In the past year, we stepped in to provide funding for Planned Parenthood to maintain operations in the state. Now that the moratorium on federal funding has lifted, we are closely monitoring the federal landscape and are committed to continuing to support uninterrupted access to these important services.” Anti-abortion advocates expressed disappointment over the restoration of the funding and called for the ban to be reinstated. “I, like others around the country, was pretty disappointed in that. We were living under an understanding that funding would not be received… and all of a sudden at the last minute, it has been restored,” said Deacon David W. Reynolds, associate director for public policy at Connecticut Catholic Conference. “We’d like to see that the policy that was in place is restored.”  PPSNE acknowledged that efforts to restrict the funding could continue under the Trump administration.  “Despite its devastating impact, President Trump and his backers in Congress are still working to make this ‘defund’ permanent, and will stop at nothing to control our bodies and lives.” Skinner said, “Planned Parenthood of Southern New England remains committed to providing care for all patients, no matter what.” In a statement, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, said maintaining funding for the organization is a priority for her. “As Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, I am fighting to keep this funding stream secure so that Planned Parenthood and other women’s health groups can continue providing health care services to our communities,” DeLauro said in a statement. Earlier this year, following a legal battle with the American Civil Liberties Union, the Trump administration released tens of millions of dollars in Title X funding that had been withheld from Planned Parenthood since last spring. The Title X funds supported the clinics while the Medicaid funding ban was still in effect, helping provide care for low-income Americans.  In 2025, PPSNE served over 60,000 patients, and 45% were insured by Medicaid or Medicare. A federal law called the Hyde Amendment, in place since 1977, prohibits federal funding from covering abortions, but it can cover other healthcare services the organization provides. The clinics performed 14,136 abortions and conducted about 239,105 tests for sexually transmitted diseases and 14,077 cancer screenings.  About half of the people who visited the organization’s 15 clinics last year — 14 in Connecticut and one in Providence, R.I. — were Black or Hispanic. Young people under the age of 20 made up about 10% of their patients, and 14% of their patients were over the age of 40; half were between the ages of 20 and 29. ...read more read less