Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) announced Monday they will resume abortion services in Wisconsin after a nearly month-long pause in services due to Medicaid cuts in the federal budget bill.
PPWI said they were able to begin scheduling patients for abortion services again because they are no longer defined as a “prohibited entity” — the classification that led to the organization losing Medicaid reimbursements under President Donald Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’
The bill bars providers from billing Medicaid as insurance for reproductive health, classifying any nonprofit group providing abortions receiving more than $800,000 from Medicaid in the fiscal year 2023 as a “prohibited entity.”
PPWI was able to skirt this classification by giving up their status as an Essential Community Provider (ECP) — a federal status for providers primarily serving low-income individuals.
While PPWI paused abortion services, only two independent practices in Milwaukee provided the service in the state. University of Wisconsin students lost local abortion access because the sole provider in the area is PPWI’s Madison’s East Health Center. PPWI continued to provide other services during the pause, like contraceptives, cancer screenings and tests for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
According to a court filing from Sept. 29, family planning organizations may continue billing Medicaid for services if they stop providing abortion services or give up their ECP or tax exempt status.
ECP’s offer services on a sliding fee scale based on the individual’s income and the status helps organizations like PPWI bill private health insurance in-network. But 60% of PPWI’s patients are on Medicaid, and affiliates across the state rely on Medicaid funding to keep their doors open, a trade off PPWI was willing to make.
“At this point, in all of our research and analysis, we really shouldn’t see much impact [from ECP status] on patient access,” PPWI CEO Tanya Atkinson said. “If relinquishing this does ultimately impact our bottom line, we will have to understand what that path forward is.”
Atkinson said the total effect dropping ECP status will have on PPWI’s financial situation is still unknown, but patients should not expect to see changes in costs.
Abortions are only available at three of PPWI’s locations in Madison, Milwaukee and Sheboygan. The Sheboygan clinic only provides medication abortions while the other two perform surgical abortions as well.
In July, Planned Parenthood sued the Trump Administration, leading a judge to temporarily block enforcement of Medicaid cuts under the bill, granting an injunction allowing abortion services to continue through the end of the summer and early fall. The injunction was lifted in September.
Clara Strecker is the state news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as copy chief. Clara has written in-depth on the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the 2024 presidential election and abortion rights. She will spend the summer interning with WisPolitics. Follow her on X at @clara_strecker.
