Maine clinics to end primary care after federal Medicaid cuts
Maine Family Planning, a network of 18 clinics and a mobile unit serving low-income residents, announced on Oct. 1, 2025 that it will stop providing primary-care services on Oct. 31 after losing roughly $2 million in Medicaid reimbursements tied to a Trump administration provision in the recent tax-and-spending law that withholds payments from providers that offer abortion. The network said it will continue limited family-planning services as it pursues appeals in federal court; the action is part of a broader national policy that has already affected Planned Parenthood affiliates and other providers.
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🔍 Key Facts
- Maine Family Planning will cease primary-care services for nearly 1,000 patients effective Oct. 31, 2025.
- The group says it lost about $2 million in Medicaid reimbursements after the administration applied a law that bars payments to providers that offer abortion and receive more than $800,000/year in Medicaid reimbursements.
- Maine Family Planning operates 18 health centers and a mobile unit; in 2024 it recorded 17,535 visits, of which 13% were for primary care. The network lost a federal-court bid in August to restore funding and has appealed.
📍 Contextual Background
- The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, allowing enforcement of state abortion bans.
- Since the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, prescribing abortion medications via telehealth and mailing them to patients has been the subject of interstate legal conflicts between liberal and conservative states.
- Medication abortion pills are the most common way abortions are accessed in the United States and contributed to an increase in abortion numbers in 2024, according to reporting.
- Under Louisiana's law banning abortion at all stages of pregnancy, physicians convicted of providing an abortion face up to 15 years in prison and up to $200,000 in fines.