U.S. Judge Blocks Trump’s Abortion Rule
A federal judge in Washington state on Thursday froze a Trump administration rule that would have overhauled the Title X federal family planning program, the state’s attorney general confirmed.
U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Bastian, an Obama appointee, issued an injunction staying the changes from taking effect while several other legal challenges proceed. His temporary block applies nationwide.
Bastian heard several hours of arguments Thursday from Washington state and the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association challenging the administration’s Title X funding rule.
The ruling comes just two days after another federal judge in Oregon announced his intent to put the new rules on hold, siding with a coalition of Democratic attorneys general, Planned Parenthood and the American Medical Association.
Judge Michael McShane called the administration’s policies a “ham-fisted” approach that would “reduce health outcomes” but didn’t say whether his injunction would be nationwide or more limited.
