Federal and state laws already prohibit the use of tax dollars to pay for non-therapeutic abortions.
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A federal judge Friday blocked a law signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich that would have stripped all state funding for Planned Parenthood.
The judge made permanent his prior preliminary order in May that prevents the state Department of Health from carrying out its plan to deny 28 Planned Parenthood clinics the last $1.3 million in federal funds it had been sending their way for health services not tied to abortion. The money goes to programs separate from abortion, such as work to fight HIV/AIDS in communities of color, provide sexual health education for young people, offer breast and cervical cancer prevention, work to end sexual violence against women, reduce infant mortality and STD prevention.
Caption + Robert Dear Jr. talks directly to Judge Gilbert Martinez during a court appearance December 9, 2015 where El Paso County prosecutors filed formal charges against him in the Planned Parenthood attack during which University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer Garrett Swasey, Iraq war veteran Ke’Arre Stewart and Jennifer Markovsky, mother of two were killed on November 27, 2015.
In 2015, the Republican Party launched an aggressive campaign to defund and effectively dismantle the organization for its abortion services. Passed in February by the OH state assembly and Gov. John Kasich, HB 294 mandates that state money can not go to organizations promoting, performing or contracting “non-therapeutic” abortions.
Without those funds, the group says it would be forced to increase the costs of its services – which would “deter patients from seeking these potentially life-saving services”, according to earlier filings.
“Today’s ruling supports the rights of all Ohioans to access needed health care”, Iris E. Harvey, president and CEO of their Greater Ohio branch, said.
Planned Parenthood won contracts from the state to provide the services, in many cases as the lowest and best bidder for the programs.
“Politicians have no business blocking patients from the care they need – and today the court stopped them in their tracks”, she said.
A judge on Thursday ordered Dear to remain at the Colorado State Mental Health Institute at Pueblo for at least 90 more days.
Ohio Right to Life, an anti-abortion advocate, decried the ruling, labeling Barrett an unelected activist judge.
More specifically, the state is arguing that it has a policy preference for childbirth over abortion and the allocation of funds is based on that choice. Planned Parenthood sued in May, claiming it was unconstitutional, shortly before it was scheduled to take effect. But Judge Michael B. Barrett disagreed. But lawmakers were not dissuaded, even after a Texas grand jury in January found no wrongdoing by the abortion provider and instead indicted the anti-abortion activist who filmed the videos.
In December, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine revealed that in Ohio, Planned Parenthood locations are contracting with companies that dump fetal remains in landfills. Those charges later were dropped.
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The ruling today by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of OH protected essential health services for the people of Ohio.
