Court to Block Trump Administration's Ban on Abortion Referrals

(Bloomberg) -- An Oregon federal judge will block the Trump administration’s policy of prohibiting taxpayer-funded health-care providers from referring pregnant women to abortion clinics, the state’s top legal officer said.

U.S. District Judge Michael McShane said during a hearing Tuesday in Portland, Oregon, that he will bar the government from enforcing its Title X “gag rule,’’ Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a tweet.

The scope of the ruling wasn’t immediately clear. The judge is expected to issue a written decision later. The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment.

Opponents of the administration’s rules say they will cut off Planned Parenthood and other health providers that offer abortion services from hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding.

Another legal challenge to the rules filed by the state of California is pending in San Francisco federal court.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kartikay Mehrotra in San Francisco at kmehrotra2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Wollman at ewollman@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg

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