Thu Jul 03 19:40:00 UTC 2025: **Maine Reproductive Healthcare Access Threatened by Proposed Federal Bill**

**Augusta, ME** – A controversial provision in President Trump’s proposed tax and spending package, dubbed “One Big Beautiful Bill,” could significantly curtail reproductive healthcare access in Maine, despite the state’s protections for reproductive rights. The bill, which narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday and is now headed to the House, threatens to exclude Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning from receiving Medicaid payments for one year.

These two organizations serve approximately half of the patients in Maine’s sexual and reproductive healthcare network. The proposed provision prohibits Medicaid funding for any services provided by organizations that offer abortion services and received more than $800,000 in Medicaid funding in 2023, regardless of whether Medicaid dollars fund abortions. Both Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning meet this criteria.

While Medicaid doesn’t fund abortions in Maine except in very limited circumstances, it does cover vital non-abortion services offered by these organizations, including birth control, STI testing and treatment, and cancer screenings. Healthcare experts fear that vulnerable patients will lose access to these essential services if the bill passes.

George Hill, President and CEO of Maine Family Planning, which operates 18 clinics in medically underserved areas and a mobile medical unit, expressed serious concern. Nearly half of the organization’s patients are Medicaid eligible, and for 70% of those patients, their visit to Maine Family Planning is their only interaction with the healthcare system each year. Hill fears that excluding Maine Family Planning from Medicaid, which provides roughly $1.9 million to the organization’s budget, would disproportionately impact those with limited healthcare access.

“We are not being debarred or excluded from Medicaid on the basis of any fraud or criminal behavior; we’re being excluded because we’re abortion providers, plain and simple,” Hill said.

Maine Senator Susan Collins was one of three Republican Senators who voted against the bill, citing concerns over its harmful impact on Medicaid and rural healthcare providers. She stated that nearly a third of Maine’s population depends on the Medicaid program.

This latest threat to Maine Family Planning’s funding follows a previous freeze on Title X funds by the Trump Administration, impacting the organization’s budget. While a recent state funding bill offers temporary relief, the long-term impact remains uncertain.

Hill vowed to fight the provision, calling it a “backdoor attack to limit access to abortion care in blue states” and “a public health issue.” Maine Family Planning is considering litigation if the bill passes with the provision intact. Planned Parenthood has warned that if “defunded” by the bill, nearly 200 of its health centers across the country could be at risk of closing, impacting over 1.1 million patients.

The House is expected to vote on the bill in the coming days.

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