Gov. Bob Ferguson has committed to backfilling any Planned Parenthood funding cut in the federal spending plan approved by Congress last week.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Ferguson said he would divert state dollars toward Planned Parenthood clinics at risk of losing $11 million in federal funds as part of the “Big Beautiful Bill” signed by Trump on Friday.
The new law bans Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood for the next year, meaning clinics cannot be reimbursed for providing medical services to low-income patients insured under the federal health care program.
On Monday, a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked that ban, allowing payments to continue temporarily. The case is ongoing, but if the ban prevails, Ferguson said Washington is prepared to continue funding those services.
“We have to make sure that individuals in our state have access to the critical services provided by Planned Parenthood,” Ferguson said.
Planned Parenthood receives about $22 million in Medicaid funding each year, including $11 million from the federal government, according to the governor’s office.
The $11 million used to backfill the loss of federal dollars would come from the state Health Care Authority, Ferguson said, adding that the one-time cost makes up less than 1% of that agency’s budget.
Jennifer Allen, CEO of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, said the federal cuts were “politically motivated” and come at a time when the state’s budget for reproductive health is already strained.
The most recent state budget – signed by Ferguson in May – included a 50% funding cut for the Abortion Access Project, which supported clinics that saw an increase in out-of-state patients after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health overturned national abortion access protections.
That funding reduction was among about $3 billion in cuts in the most recent state budget. Lawmakers had to fill a $15 billion shortfall over the next four years.
Ferguson said Wednesday that he and legislators will try to restore the Abortion Access Project funding once they are back in session in January.
Although Washington will backfill the abortion cuts in the federal budget, Ferguson said the state does not have the funds to backfill other cuts to Medicaid, food assistance programs and social safety net programs slashed in the new law.
“We’re talking billions of dollars,” Ferguson said. “The state of Washington does not have billions of dollars lying around.”
