Washington leaders plan to backfill the loss of about $11 million in federal funding for local Planned Parenthood services if cuts to the organization by the latest U.S. spending bill are approved by a federal judge.
In a news conference on Wednesday at Planned Parenthood in Seattle’s Central District, Gov. Bob Ferguson said the funding, which would be diverted from the state’s Health Care Authority, would only be necessary if a lawsuit filed in federal court this week is not successful.
On Monday, Planned Parenthood sued over cuts from President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that appear to specifically target the organization. That same day, a federal judge blocked a provision of the bill that imposes a one-year cut to Medicaid reimbursement for nonprofit organizations that also offer abortion services.
The contentious budget bill, which includes trillions of dollars of tax cuts, was signed into law on July 4. Ferguson, who referred to it as the “big betrayal of a bill,” said it would cut about $3 billion in annual Medicaid funding to Washington state.
The Trump bill “intentionally targets Planned Parenthood and other similar health care providers that offer reproductive health care,” Ferguson said, adding that the one-year moratorium on federal Planned Parenthood funding would go into effect immediately, pending a ruling from the federal court.
In Washington, Planned Parenthood receives about $22 million annually in Medicaid funding, with approximately $11 million of that from the federal government, Ferguson said.
Washington’s Medicaid program, called Apple Health, is the primary payer for Planned Parenthood services. Ferguson, who was joined by Democratic U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, of Seattle, at the news conference, said the promised state backfill of the federal cuts would be for one year.
Ferguson’s announcement on Wednesday does not restore state funding axed by lawmakers in the final budget for the 2025-27 biennium that cut about $8.5 million from the Abortion Access Project, which connects Washingtonians and those from out of state to abortion services.
State lawmakers wrestled with the estimated $12 billion to $16 billion deficit while balancing the budget, which led to several cuts and layoffs throughout state government as well as a $9 billion tax increase. The governor said he would try to restore state funding for Planned Parenthood in the state supplemental budget, which lawmakers will tackle in the 2026 legislative session.
Ferguson said he’d backfill the federal funding cut using dollars from the HCA if the federal lawsuit fails, which would be about half of a percent of the agency’s total budget.
But because the state, unlike the federal government, cannot run a budget deficit, Washington does not have billions of dollars to backfill the billions of dollars in broader cuts to Medicaid services included in the Trump tax cut bill, Ferguson said. He noted that those broader cuts, unlike the cuts to abortion services, will not take effect until after the 2026 midterm elections for Congress.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who ruled to temporarily stop cuts to Planned Parenthood, will rule on July 21 whether or not to grant a longer injunction.
In a news release on Wednesday, Planned Parenthood said it serves more than 100,000 patients in Washington at 30 facilities statewide annually, and that nearly half of those patients use Medicaid for care.
Under federal law, federal funds are already barred from being used for abortion services, unless it is medically necessary to protect the life of the mother.
While some Planned Parenthood facilities do offer abortion services, such as medication abortions and in-clinic procedures, depending on state law. They also offer a wide range of other services such as family planning, cancer screenings, and STD testing and treatment.
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