A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld an Ohio law that restricts government funding of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
In an 11-6 ruling, the full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling from the lower court and ruled against two Planned Parenthood affiliates that challenged the law. The Cincinnati-based court found the measure does not violate the Constitution and ruled the affiliates “do not have a due process right to perform abortions.”
“The Ohio law does not violate a woman’s right to obtain an abortion,” Judge Jeffrey Sutton, appointed by former President George W. Bush, wrote for the majority. “It does not condition a woman’s access to any of these public health programs on refusing to obtain an abortion. It makes these programs available to every woman, whether she seeks an abortion or not.”
Four judges nominated to the 6th Circuit by President Trump joined the majority.
Dr. Leana Wen, president of Planned Parenthood, said the appeals court’s ruling will hurt women’s and children’s health.
“It is unconscionable that politicians continue seeking to restrict people from accessing essential health care — which is a human right,” Wen said in a statement. “We know the consequences: it’s people’s health and their lives at stake.”
The law, passed by the state legislature and signed by Republican Gov. John Kasich in 2016, prohibits the Ohio Department of Health from providing funds distributed through six government-sponsored programs to organizations that perform nontherapeutic abortions.
The measure was challenged in federal district court by two regional Planned Parenthood chapters, which argued it imposed an unconstitutional condition on government funding in violation of the First and 14th Amendments.
The law, the affiliates argued, conditioned “government funding on giving up their rights to provide abortions and to advocate for them,” according to court filings.
The federal district court agreed with Planned Parenthood and blocked the state from enforcing the law, and the ruling was upheld by a three-judge panel on the 6th Circuit.
The 6th Circuit agreed last year to rehear the case en banc, meaning all the judges of the court would hear the case.
In reversing the lower court’s ruling, the appeals court said that while the law does impose a condition on receipt of government funds, that condition does not run afoul of the Constitution.
In a dissent, Judge Helene White, also a Bush appointee, wrote the majority “creates a loophole that enables states to circumvent the unconstitutional-conditions doctrine: the government cannot leverage its funding to carve away at constitutional rights by passing laws that target the individual who holds the right, but it can leverage funding to achieve that same result so long as it manages to find a proxy target instead.”
[Opinion: Fighting Planned Parenthood on the abortion debate’s front line: Google]
