HARRISBURG (TNS) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has joined 22 Democratic attorneys general in a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from defunding Planned Parenthood and ripping “away healthcare from thousands of Pennsylvanians,” he said.

“This unconstitutional decision threatens to close vital health care centers and deny Pennsylvanians essential, lifesaving care such as cancer screening and prevention, family planning services, and prenatal and postpartum care,” Shapiro said in a statement on X/Twitter.

Shapiro’s involvement stands out because he is the only governor to join the lawsuit from Democratic attorneys general. Pennsylvania has a Republican Attorney General, Dave Sunday.

Every Republican member of the House from Pennsylvania, except for Bucks County Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, voted for the Trump spending bill that contains the defunding provision.

A statement on the lawsuit by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell says the defund provision “clearly targets” Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member health centers for providing reproductive services and their “political advocacy in support of abortion rights, as the provision’s four criteria apply to the overwhelming majority of PPFA health centers — regardless of whether they actually provide abortions — but exclude almost all other abortion providers.”

Critics of the legislation have said it would also negatively impact those that use Planned Parenthood for other services, such as providing contraception, screening and treating sexually transmitted diseases, cervical and breast cancer screenings and pregnancy care.

A federal judge on Monday ruled that Planned Parenthood clinics should continue to receive Medicaid funding reimbursements, halting the defund provision pushed by Trump and congressional Republicans.

According to PBS.com, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston wrote in her decision that “patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable.”

Specifically, Talwani wrote that “restricting Members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs.”

Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates responded in early July to the defund provision in the GOP-backed legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump.

The group warned that the bill would strip 20,000 Pennsylvanians who rely on Medicaid of their access to providers and that 91,000 patients, mostly women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ community, will be “forced to navigate a fragmented and unprepared health system.”

Signe Espinoza, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates (PPPA), said in the statement that, “Donald Trump and every lawmaker who voted for this bill doubled down on cruelty and political gamesmanship. This time at the direct expense of our health, our rights and our futures.”

In its statement, PPPA said the bill “is a full-scale attack on reproductive freedom and essential health care. It slashes funding for Medicaid, blocks Planned Parenthood from serving patients and imposes dangerous restrictions that disproportionately harm people with low incomes, communities of color, and those already facing barriers to care.”