by Madeline Shannon
California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week announced a $140 million investment in Planned Parenthood as Medicaid funding runs arid.
State funding for organizations is intended to preserve access to health care facilities that Newsom says saves lives.
“California is a state of reproductive freedom, and this latest investment continues to demonstrate our belief in protecting access to primary health care in challenging times,” he added. Newsom – he announced in a press release from his office on Thursday. “Trump’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood puts all of our communities at risk as people seek primary health care from these community service providers.”
The move comes the same week that California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with 20 other attorneys general, filed an amicus brief to stop the Trump administration’s efforts to block funding for Planned Parenthood by depriving the organization of Medicaid funds.
The amicus brief, which can be filed on behalf of one or the other side in a lawsuit, was also intended to show support for Planned Parenthood in its case against the Trump administration, which included a provision to reimburse a well-known reproductive health care provider in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“The Trump administration’s assault on health care, which includes reproductive care, knows no bounds,” Bonta said in a news release. “We cannot lose sight of how devastating the impact of Defund will be on the loss of critical health care services provided by Planned Parenthood and other health centers.”
The defunding provision, which seeks to deprive Planned Parenthood of its Medicaid funding, is intended to block that funding to organizations that provide indispensable health services such as cancer screenings, birth control, sexually transmitted infection screenings, and wellness screenings provided by what the bill calls “prohibited entities.”
The definition of “prohibited entities” sets out criteria that exclusively identifies Planned Parenthood, Bonta’s office said. Bonta’s office says the apparent targeting of Planned Parenthood furthers a long-term goal of Republican politicians to cut funding to Planned Parenthood in order to punish the organization.
According to a report by a health policy organization KFFMedicaid and Title X, the federal government’s Title X family planning program, reimburses Planned Parenthood clinics across the country for a range of services. These include contraceptive care, pregnancy testing, sexually transmitted infection testing, and other gynecological health services for low-income and uninsured people.
“The loss of Medicaid and Title we read in the report.
A number of other states have taken actions to reduce or eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood, including North Carolina AND Wisconsinwhile other countries insisted on funding protection, e.g Colorado.
The Trump administration’s push to reduce Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood is already paying off. According to Bonta’s office, some locations have closed and others have reduced services in response to already drastic funding cuts.
“In California, we have been working for years to protect women’s right to access comprehensive reproductive health care by signing agreements to protect care providers, increasing patients’ rights to medical privacy and expanding access to contraception,” Senate President Pro Tem-Elect Monique Limón of Santa Barbara said in a press release issued Thursday. “While women continue to face constitutional attacks on their reproductive freedom, California is and always will be committed to full reproductive health care.”
Some lawmakers disagreed with Newsom’s move to redirect state money to Planned Parenthood, with Sen. Maria Alvarado-Gil, R-Modesto, calling it “a manifestation of misplaced priorities.”
“Decisions like these underscore Newsom’s skewed values, handing vast sums to ideological allies while leaving vulnerable communities in favor of life-threatening gaps in emergency care,” Alvarado-Gil said in a statement emailed to The Center Square. “And let’s not pretend this isn’t political revenge for Planned Parenthood for their staunch support of its aggressive boundary-changing efforts, which have gone all out thanks to multimillion-dollar funding, grassroots mobilization and advocacy.”
The amicus brief by Bonta and other state attorneys general filed this week follows a lawsuit that Bonta and 23 other states filed against the Trump administration in July 2025 over the same clawback order against Planned Parenthood. The case is currently pending in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
“Planned Parenthood California affiliates are grateful to Governor Newsom and our allies in the Legislature for taking this necessary step to ensure Planned Parenthood health centers remain open and able to provide critical services as they navigate the impact of federal defunding,” said Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, in a press release.
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Madeline Shannon covers state and local authorities in California on The Center Square. She is originally from Central California but has worked as a reporter throughout the West Coast, covering local news, local and state government, education, arts and entertainment. She holds journalism degrees from California State University at Fresno, the Academy of Art University and the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri at Columbia.
“Planned Parenthood in St. Paul” photo by Fibonacci blue. CC BY 2.0.
