“The state of Alabama can not impermissibly target abortion providers for unfair treatment”, said Susan Watson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, which joined in the lawsuit. Defunding Planned Parenthood would mean that low-income women, men and teens would find it exceedingly hard to find unbiased information, low-cost contraception and high quality preventive care and screening. But they have come under attack in Louisiana and nationwide over a series of videos released by an anti-abortion group over the summer. The video appears to show a Planned Parenthood representative talking about selling foetal tissue for profit, something that would be illegal.
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“I just think they’ve stepped over the line, and we need to do family planning in a different way”, Kasich said.
Rudofsky also asserted that the court limit any class to those who say they are being denied their choice of provider under the Medicaid Act, as opposed to those who say the discontinuation of funding violates their civil rights.
In 2015, controversy around these issues reached fever pitch, and a few in Congress called to defund Planned Parenthood-a move that would mean almost 700,000 people could lose access to their only source of health care.
“There are individuals who are willing to put out bits and pieces of other things, instead of knowing the full scope of what something is”, said Monique Ingram, who works for Planned Parenthood.
Jindal, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination and is ranked 10th in the Washington Examiner’s presidential power rankings, is one of several Republican governors trying to prevent the women’s health and abortion provider from getting taxpayer funding, in the wake of undercover videos highlighting its participation in supplying aborted fetal tissue for medical research. While former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) made the investigations into Planned Parenthood a personal priority, Ryan has said little about the videos. “Planned Parenthood doesn’t deserve one dime of our tax dollars”.
Bowen told The Dallas Morning News that his office is investigating Planned Parenthood due to “specific allegations of fraud that were brought to us by a whistleblower”.
Stuart Bowen, the inspector general of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, told The Dallas Morning News that a whistleblower alleging Medicaid fraud at Texas Planned Parenthood clinics spurred the agency’s investigation.
The organization argues that the money it receives from the government goes to services like education, not abortions.
In a statement, president of the national Planned Parenthood Federation Cecile Richards said the organization is pleased with the decision.
In order to insure it separates the federal funding, the organization said it documents the procedures, turns in those documents, and is reimbursed for non-abortion services.
“It is undisputed that Planned Parenthood has a financial motivation of its own for pursuing this litigation – Medicaid reimbursements”, Rudofsky wrote.
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“We really felt like we wanted to redeem the building” said Tracy Frank with the Hope Pregnancy Center.
