ACLU Statement on District Court Blocking Implementation of Trump Administration Birth Control Rule
WASHINGTON — A federal court issued a preliminary injunction today effectively blocking interim final rules issued by the Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies that would have allowed employers and universities to deny their employees and students insurance coverage for contraception due to religious or moral objections. The decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania was issued in a case brought by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the ACLU’s suit challenging these rules is currently pending in California.
Louise Melling, ACLU deputy legal director, had this reaction:
“It is a good day when a court stops this administration from sanctioning discrimination under the guise of religion or morality. The Trump administration’s rules stripped women of birth control coverage — a benefit guaranteed to them by law, and meant to advance their health and equality. We applaud the order to enjoin the enforcement of these discriminatory rules.”
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Press ReleaseFeb 2026
Reproductive Freedom
Arizona Advanced Practice Clinicians Challenge Laws Barring Them From Providing Abortion. Explore Press Release.Arizona Advanced Practice Clinicians Challenge Laws Barring Them from Providing Abortion
PHOENIX — A group of Arizona advanced practice nurses filed a lawsuit yesterday challenging the state’s ban on the provision of abortion by trained advanced practice clinicians (APCs) such as nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of the nurses by the Ůҹ (ACLU), the ACLU of Arizona, and the law firm Papetti Samuels Weiss McKirgan LLP, argues that the APC ban violates Arizonans' constitutional right to abortion access, established by voters in 2024, by arbitrarily restricting their choice of provider and, more broadly, making abortion less available in the state. The APC ban bears no relationship to patient safety, clinical standards, or medical evidence. APCs are already allowed to provide abortion in roughly half the states, and clinical studies and experience show that they do so just as safely as their physician peers. APCs are crucial in ensuring timely access for patients who, in addition to state restrictions, face other barriers to care such as transportation limitations, inflexible work schedules, childcare needs, and controlling partners. Leading medical authorities, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Nurse Midwives, have called on states to repeal these bans so that these highly qualified health care professionals can serve patients seeking abortion. Arizona’s APC ban has severely limited the pool of available abortion providers in the state. Arizona already has a shortage of physicians, particularly in rural and tribal areas, and many Arizonans see APCs as their primary or reproductive health care provider. When these patients face an unwanted pregnancy or a pregnancy complication, many of them must travel long distances to seek abortion care from a new provider. Because of how few abortion providers there are in the state, some of these patients face delays. They may be forced to have a procedure because they miss the narrow window to end their pregnancy with medications. Some are even forced to carry to term. Being prevented, or even delayed, from accessing abortion raises risks to a patient’s physical and mental health. “Arizonans should be free to access abortion care in their communities, including from qualified, trained advanced practice clinicians,” said Alice Clapman, senior counsel with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project. “Overturning the state’s APC ban would not only bring its healthcare policy in line with the medical science but also make good on the state constitution’s promise to protect abortion access as a fundamental right. The ACLU will do everything in our power to make sure that Arizonans can get abortion care from providers they trust, including advanced practice clinicians.” “I became a midwife because I felt called to care for my patients as whole people with a range of medical, social, and emotional needs throughout the span of their lives,” said plaintiff Janna Stefanek, a certified nurse midwife. “For some patients, this includes abortion care. The APC ban forces me to turn those patients away at a vulnerable time when they need me — that is just wrong. I am honored to fight to ensure Arizonans have access to the care they deserve from trusted and qualified providers in their own communities.” “As a physician, I work closely with advanced practice clinicians,” said Dr. Laura Mercer, legislative chair of the Arizona Section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “Preventing these dedicated professionals from providing abortion care within their scope of practice is harmful and out of step with modern medicine. The evidence is clear: advanced practice clinicians can be trained to provide many types of uncomplicated abortion care as safely as physicians. Furthermore, allowing them to do so has numerous benefits for their patients. Lifting this unjustified ban will mean more Arizonans can access the health care they need, and sooner.” “The fundamental right to abortion means little when Arizonans cannot get care from trusted and skilled providers in their own community,” said Lauren Beall, staff attorney at the ACLU of Arizona. “Overturning senseless restrictions that tie the hands of advanced practice clinicians is the next important step to fulfill the promise of the Arizona Abortion Access Act. Allowing APCs to provide abortion care is essential to ensure all Arizonans can access this health care, especially those who have faced systemic barriers across our state for far too long.” Arizona’s APC ban overrode the state Board of Nursing’s decision that, with appropriate training, advanced practice nurses were qualified to provide abortion care. Before this ban, Arizona APCs specializing in reproductive health care safely performed abortions and cared for abortion patients in the state as part of their regular scope of practice. APCs trained in reproductive health care also routinely provide care that is significantly more complex than medication and procedural abortion, including for patients in labor and who are experiencing miscarriages or postpartum complications. The APC ban has prevented these extremely skilled health care providers from giving their patients critical and time-sensitive abortion care, including in medically urgent situations. The lawsuit, Gill et al. v. State of Arizona, was filed in the Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County by the ACLU, the ACLU of Arizona, and local counsel Papetti Samuels Weiss McKirgan LLP.Court Case: Gill et al. v. State of ArizonaAffiliate: Arizona -
ArizonaFeb 2026
Reproductive Freedom
Gill Et Al. V. State Of Arizona. Explore Case.Gill et al. v. State of Arizona
A group of Arizona advanced practice nurses filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on the provision of abortion by trained advanced practice clinicians (APCs) such as nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of the nurses by the Ůҹ (ACLU), the ACLU of Arizona, and the law firm Papetti Samuels Weiss McKirgan LLP, argues that the APC ban violates Arizonans' constitutional right to abortion access, established by voters in 2024, by arbitrarily restricting their choice of provider and, more broadly, making abortion less available in the state.Status: Ongoing -
Press ReleaseJan 2026
Reproductive Freedom
Trump Administration Responds To Lawsuit Seeking Immediate Nationwide Restrictions On Medication Abortion. Explore Press Release.Trump Administration Responds to Lawsuit Seeking Immediate Nationwide Restrictions on Medication Abortion
NEW ORLEANS —Today, the Trump administration filed a brief on behalf of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a lawsuit that threatens to limit nationwide access to mifepristone, a safe and effective medication used in two-thirds of U.S. abortions and miscarriage care, within the next few months. The Department of Justice (DOJ) argues that the case, Louisiana v. FDA, should not move forward because the FDA has already undertaken a new review of its regulations on mifepristone. At no point in the brief did the DOJ defend the merits of the FDA’s evidence-based decision to allow mifepristone patients to fill their prescription by mail and at pharmacies, the issue at the core of the case. To the contrary, the Trump administration took the unusual step of criticizing the multi-year scientific analysis that led the FDA to lift its in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone in 2023 — a decision endorsed by every leading medical association — as reflecting a “lack of adequate consideration.” Mifepristone’s excellent safety record, including when prescribed through telemedicine, has been confirmed by more than a hundred peer-reviewed studies and leading medical authorities like the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. By contrast, the Trump administration’s announcement last spring that it would undertake a new review of its mifepristone regulations was based on a debunked, self-published paper from a Project 2025 sponsor that purposefully distorts the safety record of medication abortion and has been denounced by more than 260 expert researchers for its severe scientific flaws. The DOJ’s brief in Louisiana indicates that the Trump administration expects to complete its mifepristone review in less than a year. “Don’t be fooled: the Trump administration isn’t defending medication abortion — it’s just defending its own authority to restrict access to mifepristone if, when, and how it sees fit,” said Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney with the Ůҹ’s Reproductive Freedom Project. “The state politicians attacking mifepristone in court and the Trump administration officials ordering a new FDA review are two sides of the same coin — and both are wrong on the law, the science, and public opinion. Any new federal restrictions on medication abortion would not only be medically and legally unjustified but deeply unpopular among the overwhelming majority of Americans.” Louisiana’s lawsuit could severely hinder medication abortion access across the country as soon as late February. Recent data show that by June 2025, more than 1 in 4 abortions in the U.S. were provided via telemedicine using mifepristone. This method of care could be halted immediately if the federal district court in Louisiana grants the state’s request to impose sweeping nationwide restrictions. A ruling could come any time after a hearing scheduled for Feb. 24. Louisiana is seeking to prevent patients from being able to fill their mifepristone prescription by mail or at a local pharmacy. Instead, patients all across the country, including in states where abortion care is legally protected, would be required to pick up the pill in person at a hospital, clinic, or medical office — even when they have already received care through telemedicine and there is no medical reason for the trip. Accessing abortion via telemedicine is especially important for people who live on low incomes; who struggle to secure transportation, childcare, or time off work; who live in rural areas; and who are experiencing domestic violence. Any restrictions on mifepristone would also affect patients using the medication for miscarriage management. Louisiana v. FDA is one of three pending federal lawsuits brought by anti-abortion state politicians trying to end the use of telemedicine for mifepristone. The other two suits — Missouri v. FDA and Florida v. FDA — seek to impose other nationwide restrictions on mifepristone as well, and Florida seeks to ban the medication altogether by undoing FDA’s original approval from 25 years ago. -
Press ReleaseJan 2026
Reproductive Freedom
Nfprha And Aclu Succeed In Fighting To Restore All Federal Family Planning Grants And Dismiss Their Lawsuit Against The Trump Administration. Explore Press Release.NFPRHA and ACLU Succeed in Fighting to Restore All Federal Family Planning Grants and Dismiss Their Lawsuit Against the Trump Administration
WASHINGTON – Today, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against the Trump administration following the government’s restoration of all Title X family planning grants that were the subject of NFPRHA’s litigation. The lawsuit, filed in April 2025 by the Ůҹ (ACLU) and the ACLU of D.C. on behalf of NFPRHA and its members, challenged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) illegal withholding of 22 federal Title X grants, which left approximately 865 family planning service sites unable to provide Title X-funded services to an estimated 842,000 patients across nearly two dozen states. “The Trump administration illegally withheld vital family planning funds that federal grantees were relying on to provide time-sensitive, critical care to hundreds of thousands of people in need,” said Clare Coleman, president & CEO, National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA). “Our lawsuit succeeded in holding the administration accountable for its unlawful acts, and today, NFPRHA members’ grants have been restored. We are relieved all of our members now have access to their promised funds, but we know the fight for contraceptive access in this country goes on. We will continue to stand up for our members and the essential care they provide to millions of individuals.” “When the Trump administration withheld critical Title X family planning funding, it blatantly violated federal law and left hundreds of sites unable to provide Title X-funded services,” said Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the Reproductive Freedom Project at the ACLU. “Fortunately, those Title X grants have been restored to NFPRHA’s members. But we know that the Trump administration will continue to attack reproductive freedom, and the ACLU will be ready to use every lever we have to fight those attacks and defend the Title X program.” “We should never have had to sue to protect essential health care like cancer screenings, STI tests, and birth control,” said Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at ACLU-D.C. “Restoring funding is a victory, but the larger fight to protect everyone's reproductive freedom continues."Court Case: National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association v. KennedyAffiliate: Washington, D.C.