By Sandy Cunningham, Louisiana Right to Life
This afternoon in federal court in Baton Rouge, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast asked U.S. District Judge John deGravelles to temporarily prevent Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration from pulling Medicaid funds from the abortion business while further appeals are argued. deGravelles is the same judge who should rule any day now on the case regarding the state’s 2014 admitting privilege law.
In the case, Planned Parenthood vs. Kathy Kleibert, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Planned Parenthood claims the action violates federal law and places thousands of women’s critical care in jeopardy.
But the state is citing a state law that allows cancellation of a Medicaid provider agreement with a 30-day notice.
The Medicaid funding cut was supposed to take effect today, but the state agreed in court to extend the date until Sept. 15 in order to respond to a brief filed by the government late Monday.
Once responses are filed, the court will issue a ruling on Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary restraining order.
Benjamin Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, issued the following statement: “It should be the prerogative of the governor of any state to prevent state funds from going to Planned Parenthood, a business that sells abortion and the parts of aborted babies. Abortion businesses and tax dollars should remain separate, and we hope the court system will honor that distinction. Sadly, we are not surprised at all that the Justice Department and the Obama Administration have sided with Planned Parenthood. President Obama has shown that his administration will do what is necessary to protect Planned Parenthood, even in light of nine videos exposing their ghastly business practices.”
Clapper added that cutting state funding to Planned Parenthood will not place women’s care in jeopardy as the organization claims.
“In fact, there are numerous public and private clinics that offer the same services and, in some cases, more services than Planned Parenthood,” he said.
