Federal judge temporarily blocks Ohio law aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood News
Federal judge temporarily blocks Ohio law aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio [official website] on Monday temporarily blocked [order, PDF] an Ohio law [JURIST report] defunding Planned Parenthood. The judge ruled in a lawsuit [text] filed [complaint, PDF] by Planned Parenthood on May 11 and issued a temporary two-week restraining order preventing state officials from terminating funding and declining to order the reinstatement of certain contracts “out of concern for disrupting ongoing care and services.” The law was to take effect on May 23 and would divert approximately $1.3 million in state funding from the organization.

Planned Parenthood has recently been fighting against many laws seeking to defund the organization. In January US President Barack Obama vetoed legislation [JURIST report] that would have defunded Planned Parenthood. In August Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, alleging that Alabama Governor Robert Bentley’s termination of Medicaid provider agreements for the facility violates a federal law that requires Medicaid beneficiaries to have a choice in provider for family planning. Also in August the Alaska Superior Court struck down [JURIST report] a state law it says would have unfairly burdened low-income individuals by limiting Medicaid funding for abortions.