Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri and three patients on Medicaid filed the lawsuit against the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in May. Medicaid does not cover abortions.
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The court also noted that Planned Parenthood is likely to succeed on their claim that the state violated a free-choice provider provision in the Medicaid Act. Eileen Hawley, spokeswoman for governor, said in an email that Brownback’s office would review the ruling and move forward with litigation.
The Governor will continue the fight to make Kansas a pro-life state. This time the state was Kansas, and the judge was U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson in Kansas City.
The fact that Planned Parenthood uses the great majority of its funds to help women have access to better health care unfortunately is ignored by hardhearted politicians like Brownback.
Planned Parenthood representatives could not be reached by phone Tuesday, but replied with a written news release. Its Planned Parenthood Great Plains leader McQuade said, “There’s not a Medicaid provider around every corner and so Medicaid patients need to be able to trust a high-quality, specialized reproductive healthcare provider”.
The state’s move to end Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding came just two weeks after the Obama administration warned all 50 states that they can not cut funding to medical providers simply because they also offer abortion services.
In its defense, Kansas’ health department cited a dispute in December over its attempts to inspect the handling of solid waste at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland Park, Kansas, which was later resolved.
Republicans also took issue with Planned Parenthood’s emergency response, saying consent forms list its own help line, rather than telling women to call 911.
Planned Parenthood attorneys argue that the organization is being targeted because it provides abortions.
Robinson’s decision, which was expected, comes just eight days after the U.S. Supreme Court found that two Texas restrictions on abortion clinics – requiring doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and requiring clinics to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers – placed an “undue burden” on the right to an abortion.
Mary Kogut, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, accused lawmakers of being more interested in denying access to abortion services than in finding the truth.
Kansas recently agreed to rescind its termination of the individual medical providers, leaving just the Planned Parenthood affiliates as plaintiffs. Planned Parenthood in Missouri and its supporters tried to hinder the investigation by not replying to government subpoenas for information. The investigation was prompted by a series of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sales of aborted babies’ body parts.
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Brownback past year directed the state’s medial board – the Kansas Board of Healing Arts – to investigate whether commercial fetal tissue sales were occurring in Kansas.
