[JURIST] US District Court Judge Sam Sparks issued a temporary restraining order [text, PDF] on Thursday to halt Texas’ plan to cut Medicaid [official website] funding for Planned Parenthood [advocacy website]. The cut, which was due to take effect January 21, is now delayed [Texas Tribune report] until February 21. Sparks issued the delay to give the court time to consider the “mountain of evidence” in the case, which includes testimonies of 14 witness and 397 exhibits. Included in the exhibits is the eight-hour video released in 2015 by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress [advocacy website]. Although a Texas grand jury investigated the video and cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing, attorneys from both sides cited clips from the video. Planned Parenthood has 34 health centers [Reuters report] in Texas and serves more than 120,000 patients, 11,000 of whom are Medicaid patients. During fiscal year 2015, Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas received about $4.2 million in Medicaid funding. Critics of the defunding have argued that none of the Medicaid funds were used for abortions, and consequently the plan would jeopardize the availability of its other services such as HIV care and cancer screenings. Jami Snyder, associate commissioner for Medicaid and CHIP, testified that Medicaid patients would still have access to the same services through an estimated 141,000 providers. Planned Parenthood has contended that other providers do not offer the same availability as their facilities which offer weekend hours and walk-in appointments. Nevertheless, Planned Parenthood’s funding remains at risk as PresidentDonald Trump [official website] takes office on Friday with intentions to defund the organization during his term.

There has been a recent slew of state laws and suits dealing with abortion. While the new laws and suits do not list a reason for the timing of the filings, the actions began after the election of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to fight abortion rights [WSJ report]. In October a federal judge blocked a Mississippi law that disqualified [JURIST report] Medicaid benefits for non-therapeutic abortions. Also in October the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that a state law adding new licensing and inspection rules for facilities that perform abortions is unconstitutional. In September a federal judge issued a temporary injunction [JURIST report] against Arkansas’ suspension of Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood after Governor Asa Hutchinson [official website] terminated [AP report] the Medicaid funding last year following national controversy ignited by video recordings of Planned Parenthood’s practices. In August a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida [official website] permanently blocked [JURIST report] portions of a Florida law that would stop funding to Planned Parenthood. In July the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against an Arizona law that would potentially prevent low-income women from obtaining healthcare from their provider of choice. Earlier the same month a federal judge placed an injunction [JURIST report] on an Indiana law that would have banned women from seeking abortion procedures when they are based on race, sex, or the potential for or actual diagnosis of a disability in the fetus. Recently the US Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF] 5-3 in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt [SCOTUSblog materials] that a Texas law [HB2 text] imposing certain requirements on abortion clinics and doctors creates an undue burden on access to abortion, and is therefore unconstitutional [JURIST report].