OH was one of the states to pass legislation defunding the Planned Parenthood abortion business but a federal judge today ruled the Buckeye State can’t revoke taxpayer funds from the abortion company while its lawsuit against the state proceeds. “We fully expect Judge Barrett’s radical, activist decision to be overturned on appeal”. Katie Franklin with Ohio Right to Life, which supported the new law, is not happy about the decision. But the state’s attorneys say OH gets to choose how to spend the public’s money.
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NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, an advocate for abortion rights, cautioned that the state should stop spending taxpayer dollars to try to end abortion in Ohio.
The clinics have argued they’ve been singled out because, although all but three of the OH clinics do not perform abortions, they do make referrals.
U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett said the legislation, which would prevent the state from funding organizations that perform or promote abortions, would cause Planned Parenthood to “suffer a continuing irreparable injury”, according to the Associated Press. This language was so broad that Kelli Arthur Hykes, director of public health policy at Columbus Public Health, told Vox that it could have stripped funds for her local health department.
The Ohio law signed in February by Republican Governor and former presidential hopeful John Kasich stripped $1.3 million from any healthcare organization that includes abortions among its services.
Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region had sued the state, saying the law violated their constitutional rights by denying them the funds “in retaliation for” providing abortions.
The law’s financial impact on Planned Parenthood would make it unable to provide certain resources – including education groups for teenagers in at-risk situations – to the state, Barrett said. Barrett issued a temporary injuction that month to block the law change.
The push for the OH legislation, and similar laws across the country, was fueled by secretly recorded videos released last summer that purported to show Planned Parenthood employees in other states selling aborted fetuses and fetal parts. Those charges later were dropped.
The next moves are up to the state.
The ruling today by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of OH protected essential health services for the people of Ohio.
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Planned Parenthood says Ohio’s law would not force any of its 28 health centers in the state to close, but the legislation would deprive thousands of patients’ access to HIV tests, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and other prevention and education initiatives.
