Maine Family Planning will close its primary care practice by the end of the month.
That comes after the Republican-controlled Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law a bill that stripped Medicaid funding from Maine Family Planning, Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide abortion care.
The so-called defund provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law on July 4, cost the provider $2 million in funding. Under that provision, organizations such as Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning are ineligible for Medicaid reimbursements. In Maine, Medicaid is known as MaineCare.
There are numerous legal challenges to that provision, including one from the attorneys general from Maine and 20 other states.
“Congress’ defunding provision has had an immediate, devastating impact on the core of who we are and what we do,” George Hill, president and CEO of Maine Family Planning, said Wednesday morning. “The cruel and dangerous law has put us in an impossible situation. Discharging and turning away vulnerable patients strikes at the very heart of MFP’s reputation as a trusted community provider that has been able to serve patients of any means for more than 50 years.”
In August, U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker in Bangor denied continued Medicaid payments to Maine Family Planning, Planned Parenthood and other organizations affected by the provision as legal challenges wind through the courts.
Maine Family Planning asked the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston to issue a preliminary injunction to allow Medicaid payments to continue, but as of Tuesday, no such order has been issued, it said Wednesday.
“In pursuing this lawsuit, MFP is sending a clear message that we refuse to compromise the services we offer to our patients,” Hill said. “We offer life-changing care, life-saving care, and we’re not giving up on our patients without a fight.”
The end of Maine Family Planning’s primary care practice on Oct. 31 will affect about 8,000 Mainers who accessed health care through the provider’s 18 clinics and mobile medical unit last year, 70% of whom relied solely on Maine Family Planning for health care needs, according to the provider.
It’s not clear what this will mean for those patients. In May, the Guttmacher Institute, which supports sexual and reproductive rights, found that federally qualified health centers, hospitals, health department clinics and other providers would be unable to absorb the patients from organizations like Maine Family Planning and Planned Parenthood.
In Maine, where Planned Parenthood serves 26% of all contraceptive care patients, other providers would have to expand their capacity 36% to absorb those patients. Nationally, other providers would need to expand their capacity 50% to care for those additional patients.
The Guttmacher Institute said in its May analysis, before Congress passed and Trump signed the bill, that it’s “unrealistic” to expect providers to expand their capacity to take on patients from Planned Parenthood and other such organizations.
Maine Family Planning said Wednesday that it will be working with patients to find primary care providers who are taking on new clients. It will continue to offer family planning services for as long as it can.
