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The cuts apply to groups that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023. The goal was to target , but the legislation also affected a .

California, New York, Connecticut, other states and Washington, D.C. argue in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts that the provision's language is unclear about which groups it applies to. They also say it retaliates against Planned Parenthood for advocating for abortion access, violating the free speech clause of the First Amendment.

The states are asking that the portion of the law be blocked and deemed unconstitutional.

The cuts threaten health care access for many low-income Americans, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a news conference.

“This attack isn't just about abortion,” the Democrat said. “It's about denying vulnerable communities access to care they rely on every day.”

But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, named a defendant in the suit, defended the provision.

“States should not be forced to fund organizations that have chosen political advocacy over patient care,” spokesperson Andrew G. Nixon said in an email. “It is a shame that these democrat attorney generals seek to undermine state flexibility and disregard longstanding concerns about accountability.”

Maine Family Planning, which operates 18 clinics offering a range of services across the state, and filed separate lawsuits earlier this year challenging the cuts. Planned Parenthood said although it is not specifically named in the law, the provision was meant to affect its nearly 600 centers in 48 states. About a third of those clinics risk closure because of the legislation, which would strip care from more than 1 million patients, the group argues.

A Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to receive Medicaid reimbursements.

Maine Family Planning said it had enough in its reserves to keep seeing patients covered by Medicaid without reimbursements only through October. About half of the group’s patients not seeking abortions are enrolled in Medicaid.

The states' suit filed Tuesday argues that by pushing Planned Parenthood clinics to close or cut services, it could increase the states' medical care costs in the long term. Otherwise the cuts will make states use their own funds to keep health centers open.

“Either we have to comply and violate Planned Parenthood’s constitutional rights and then push people to alternative providers that don’t exist, who don’t have the capacity to pick up the slack, or we have to spend upwards of $6 million or more to cover (those services),” said William Tong, Connecticut's Democratic attorney general.

Federal law already bars taxpayer money from covering most abortions, but some conservatives argue abortion providers use Medicaid money for other health services to subsidize abortion.

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Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

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Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: