With several states defunding America's largest abortion corporation, causing multiple clinic closings across the nation, Planned Parenthood's response sounds familiar: seek activist liberal judges to overturn the will of the people.
For background, read Planned Parenthood Shutting Down in Indiana & Minnesota and also read States Will Defund Planned Parenthood
UPDATE 3/10/14: Arizona Defunds Abortionists, but Supreme Court Forces Funding Anyway
UPDATE 3/26/14: Court OKs Defunding Planned Parenthood in Kansas
-- From "Planned Parenthood Wins First Victory Against Defunding Laws" by Laura Bassett, Huffington Post 6/27/11
After a month of court hearings, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt decided to grant a preliminary injunction against a new [Indiana] law that blocks Planned Parenthood of Indiana (PPIN) from participating in the Medicaid program. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services already denounced the defunding law . . .
As a result of the injunction, PPIN will immediately resume serving its Medicaid patients, many of whom had been using it as their primary health provider.
Planned Parenthood said its victories in court and with the federal government bode well for the legal battles it plans to fight in other states. The Kansas-based chapter filed a lawsuit in federal district court on Monday that seeks to block the enforcement of a defunding amendment recently passed by the Kansas legislature. Unlike the Indiana law, the Kansas law cuts off all Title X funding to Planned Parenthood, so that it will no longer be able to provide family planning and preventive health care services on a sliding-fee scale to more than 5,700 low-income patients.
Planned Parenthood is also considering legal action in Wisconsin and North Carolina, the third and fourth states to pass defunding laws this year
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Planned Parenthood Fights Kansas’ Move to Cut Off Funds" by Timothy Williams, New York Times 6/27/11
[Kansas], long a battleground on abortion, has also approved legislation requiring Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to pass state inspections before they are granted operating licenses. The rules, which could take effect as early as Friday, dictate the size of rooms at abortion clinics; the stocking of emergency equipment, medications and blood supplies; and ties to nearby hospitals.
Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, which filed the lawsuit against the state in Federal District Court in Kansas City, is contesting a provision of the recently approved state budget that requires federal family planning money to go to hospitals and public health departments, rather than to Planned Parenthood and similar groups. It says the provision would endanger the group’s ability to provide services in the state.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Planned Parenthood asks judge to block cut in funding" by Brad Cooper, The Kansas City Star 6/27/11
The provision was contained in [Kansas] Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget proposal and sailed through the Kansas Legislature with barely a hint of controversy.
The state budget targeted so-called Title X funds, which go toward family planning activities. Kansas gets about $2.9 million in Title X funds for family planning services. The money can’t be used for abortions.
Olathe state Rep. Lance Kinzer said he thinks the Legislature set up reasonable parameters for distributing the money to social service agencies, such as county health departments, that aren’t involved in abortion.
States across the country have been trying to do what Congress failed do earlier this year — cut funding for Planned Parenthood.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Kansas loses one of its three abortion clinics due to new regulations" by Ashley Lopez, The Florida Independent 6/27/11
The Aid for Women abortion clinic in Kansas City, one of the three abortion clinics left in Kansas, has lost its license to operate in the state. All three clinics had to meet new regulations that were part of a bill aimed at shutting down abortion clinics, and so far Aid for Women did not.
The new law signed by the governor set standards for all clinics that includes “having an emergency door that can accommodate a gurney … maintaining proper emergency equipment, drugs and protocols, having proper lighting and ventilation, lavatory areas, and spaces for the sterilization of surgical equipment. Clinics must also have a licensed nurse in the clinic when abortions are done.”
This leaves only the Planned Parenthood clinic, which has expressed that it will be able to meet the stringent requirements. However, The New York Times reports that the president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri believes the clinic will be “denied a liscense anyway.”
“We believe without question that the intent is to shut down abortion clinics in Kansas, so we are preparing to be in court,” he told the Times.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Texas votes to defund Planned Parenthood" by Sarah Kliff, Politico 6/27/11
The Texas Legislature approved a bill Monday that would both compel the state to push the Obama administration to convert Texas’s Medicaid program into a block grant and defund abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.
The omnibus health bill also includes a number of other controversial provisions, including plans to save $400 million over the next year by increasing the use of Medicaid managed care.
The legislation now goes to the desk of Gov. Rick Perry, who has been generally supportive of both the Medicaid reforms, as well as anti-abortion language.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "WI Cuts Planned Parenthood Funds — Judge Rules Against Indiana Law" by Dave Bohon, The New American 6/27/11
Even as conservative Governors and state lawmakers target Planned Parenthood’s lucrative abortion franchise for elimination, activist judges are working diligently to make sure the group’s deadly business continues. On June 26, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed a state budget that cuts a $3 billion shortfall (without raising taxes) by, among other things, cutting funding to Planned Parenthood. But on the same day Wisconsin became the fourth state to defund the “family planning” organization (following the lead of Kansas, Indiana, and North Carolina), a federal judge temporarily blocked the Indiana de-funding law as unconstitutional.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Wisconsin Department of Health reported that the state’s BadgerCare health plan, from which the Planned Parenthood cuts will come, saves the state some $140 million per year. . . .
Pro-life leaders have noted that Planned Parenthood could retain its funding for non-abortion “family planning” services if it would simply divest itself of the murderous portion of its business, something the organization has steadfastly refused to do. . . .
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
UPDATE 7/8/13: Abortionists Lament Ever-greater State Limits
