Planned Parenthood of Northern New England is requesting state governments in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont offset funding shortfalls caused by the Republican budget bill that was signed into law last week.

The nonprofit is facing about $5.2 million in cuts from the new law and the Trump administration prohibiting Planned Parenthood from participating in the federal Title X program, which is a funding source for reproductive health care.

The losses total $1.4 million in Maine, Nicole Clegg, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said during a news conference Wednesday.

Clegg said she’s “had conversations with Gov. (Janet) Mills” and Maine state health officials to devise a workaround to the cutbacks. Vermont and New Hampshire state governments are receiving the same requests, she said.

Ben Goodman, a spokesperson for Mills, said in a statement Wednesday that the governor is anticipating “many requests” to “cover the significant loss of federal funding, and the governor has warned that the state does not have the financial resources to absorb all of these costs.”

Goodman said in the statement: “The administration is in the process of determining the full scope of the damage the bill will cause” and will consider what actions can be taken.

The law specifically targets Planned Parenthood nationwide and prohibits the federal government from reimbursing the nonprofit for its Medicaid patients receiving non-abortion care. Federal law already prohibits federal money from paying for abortions.

“Defunding Planned Parenthood is an attempt to take away access to abortion where abortion is still legal,” Clegg said.

A 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision eliminated national protections for abortion and left it up to the states to determine whether abortion would be legal. Since 2022, 12 states have banned abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights group.

The funding reductions were slated to go into effect immediately, but Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the cuts, so the cutbacks are temporarily paused while the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, is pending. 

Clegg said if the court rules against the nonprofit, it will ask the states to make up the losses by covering the entire amount of Medicaid payments for each patient who seeks non-abortion services at Planned Parenthood. The nonprofit provides many health care services not related to abortion, such as cancer screenings, primary care, vaccinations, birth control and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

Typically, in the Medicaid program, the federal government pays about two-thirds of the cost of health services, while states pick up the rest.

Of the 7,100 patients who received health services at Planned Parenthood’s Maine locations in 2024, 27% were Medicaid enrollees, according to Planned Parenthood.

Maine state government made up a separate funding shortfall when lawmakers in June approved $6 million that will go to Planned Parenthood and a separate abortion provider, Maine Family Planning.

Lisa Margulies, vice president of public affairs, Maine, for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said the Republican bill is a “back door abortion ban” because defunding the nonprofit would cause some clinics to shut their doors. Planned Parenthood estimates that about 200 of its clinics across the country are in danger of closing.

“Our laws mean nothing without access to care,” Margulies said.

Clegg said she doesn’t know which clinics in Northern New England would be most at risk of closing, but rural clinics generally experience more financial problems.

Planned Parenthood’s Maine clinics are in Portland, Biddeford, Sanford and Topsham.

The sweeping budget bill makes overall cutbacks to Medicaid, primarily by imposing work requirements and eligibility changes that make it more difficult for enrollees to maintain Medicaid coverage. Medicaid was slashed by $800 billion nationwide, threatening the financial health of rural hospitals. The Medicaid and Affordable Care Act cutbacks in the law are estimated to cause 16 million Americans — including about 40,000 in Maine — to become uninsured.

The bulk of the cutbacks are slated to start in 2027.

Maine’s entire congressional delegation — Sens. Angus King, an independent, and Susan Collins, a Republican, and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, both Democrats — voted against the bill.