United States District Court Judge Trevor McFadden said new guidelines the Department of Health and Human services (HHS) issued in February did not require any prior review from the courts, writing in his decision, “courts cannot review substantive objections to a non-final agency action, nor can they require formal rulemaking for a change in agency procedure”.

The new guidelines will likely reshape the way HHS spends an estimated $260m in the Title X federal family-planning program, and could impact access to health care for four million Americans, according to Planned Parenthood.

The reproductive health care nonprofit filed a lawsuit along with the the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association in May attempting to block the guidelines from taking effect.

A US citizen holds a poster on the anniversary of the inauguration of President Trump apologising to the world on behalf of her country, in Zurich, Switzerland. A year after millions of people took to the streets across the US and countries around the world, women's marches are being held in lots of cities this weekend.

The Women's March Rome, designed to show solidarity for the protection of civil and social rights, women's rights and the environment included Italian actress Asia Argento, one of the first women to accuse US film producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault.

The Time's Up Women's March marks the one year anniversary of the first Women's March in London and in 2018 it is inspired by the Time's Up movement against sexual abuse.

The Time's Up initiative was launched at the start of January 2018 as a response to the #MeToo movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

"The Trump-Pence administration is trying to impose its ideology on people - no matter how many it hurts," Dawn Laguens, the executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

The lawsuit alleged HHS' new criteria violates the Title X law , which authorises HHS “to award grants for projects to provide family planning services to any person desiring such services, with priority given to individuals from low–income families”.

However, the judge wrote in his decision that the guidelines support "voluntary family projects ... offering a broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and services."

Planned Parenthood has come under fire by the Trump administration for providing abortions, with Mike Pence repeatedly calling on legislators to defund the non profit. The organisation provides health care services to over 40 per cent of the Americans receiving insurance subsidised by Title X, while the majority of its services are related to contraception, STI/STD screening and treatment, cancer testing and women’s health services.