BOSTON – On Thursday, a panel of the U.S. appeals court permitted President Donald Trump’s administration to halt Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood amid ongoing legal disputes.

Previously, a federal judge in July had ruled that Planned Parenthood clinics across the country should continue receiving Medicaid reimbursements as the major abortion provider challenges Trump’s efforts to defund it through his landmark tax legislation.

Medicaid serves as a government healthcare program aiding millions of Americans with low income and disabilities, with almost half of Planned Parenthood’s patients depending on it.

A section in Trump’s tax law mandated the cessation of Medicaid funds for one year to abortion providers receiving more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, affecting even organizations like Planned Parenthood that provide medical services such as contraception, pregnancy tests, and STD screenings.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its branches in Massachusetts and Utah initiated a lawsuit in July against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“As the Trump administration attempts to strip away reproductive rights, we stand firm in our message: we will not retreat,” declared Dominique Lee, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, in a statement. “This battle is far from over.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately respond to an online request for comment.

Planned Parenthood said Thursday’s ruling means that more than 1.1 million patients can’t use their Medicaid insurance at its health centers. That also puts as many as 200 of those health centers at risk of closure, Planned Parenthood said in a statement.

Planned Parenthood says it is the nation’s leading provider and advocate of affordable sexual and reproductive health care, as well as the nation’s largest provider of sex education.