What I'm hearing

🧑‍⚕️ A Q&A with Maine Family Planning's CEO on a new lawsuit.

◉ Maine Family Planning, which has 18 clinics in the state that offer abortions, pregnancy testing, contraception, cancer screenings, STI treatment and a range of other services, sued the Trump administration in federal court in Bangor on Wednesday over a provision in President Donald Trump's megabill that he signed into law on the Fourth of July.

◉  The Republican-backed provision cuts off Medicaid reimbursements for Planned Parenthood and other organizations that are primarily engaged in family planning services and received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023. Maine Family Planning is seeking to overturn that looming loss of funding in its legal case and is represented by the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights.

◉ Maine Family Planning, which had about 7,200 patients last year and saw about half of them (who are not receiving abortions) enrolled in Medicaid, stands to lose about $1.9 million a year in Medicaid reimbursements if the lawsuit does not succeed, or about one-fourth of its budget. It's a big case coinciding with a separate legal challenge from Planned Parenthood. Maine Family Planning President and CEO George Hill answered a few more questions from me over the phone Wednesday. (Responses edited for length.)

Beyond the funding issue, what do you hope this lawsuit achieves?

"I think we need to send a strong message back to the Trump administration that this is a ridiculous way of trying to control people's reproductive rights. I've been doing this for almost 40 years. This is probably the most heavy-handed approach that I have seen."

There's an equal protection claim here, right?

Hill: "It basically makes an equal protection claim" over the defunding in the megabill, as other organizations that provide similar services would not lose their money.

Is there any update on what clinics are doing to prepare for the new provisions taking effect if the lawsuit does not succeed?

Hill: "We've made the decision not to accept new primary care patients. [We have] 600 primary care patients at three different sites [in Houlton, Presque Isle and Ellsworth that are also designated as medically underserved for primary care as well as sexual and reproductive health care]. We are continuing to serve them. We are continuing to serve all of our Medicaid-insured patients. We are not charging [patients if they cannot afford care]. We are filling out the paperwork associated with those visits. We're holding on to the claims, not submitting them until we have some feedback from the court. At this point, because primary care patients often are dealing with chronic health situations, we are not taking on new patients until we know what our situation is, what our standing is with the courts."

News and notes

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🏠 Here are big ideas for building more affordable housing in Bangor.

More on that: The state's third biggest city, as Kathleen O'Brien reported in this new piece, needs 700 more units for people earning less than $35,000 annually.

💰 Maine's gubernatorial candidates filed their first fundraising reports. I rounded up things here.

🗳️ Shenna Bellows found the Maine GOP's claims over duplicate voter records are without merit.

🌎 From Maine Public: Heavy rainfall is triggering sewage pollution in the state.

☀️ A new documentary focuses on Houlton and last year's eclipse.

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