The Supreme Court on Monday said it would not take up an anti-abortion group’s request to get key documents from the federal government on Planned Parenthood.
The anti-abortion group New Hampshire Right to Life submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to get Planned Parenthood’s Manual of Medical Standards, but was rejected by the federal government under an exemption for trade secrets and confidential commercial or financial information. Right to Life wanted the government to disclose the manual, which was submitted by the women’s health and abortion provider in connection with a grant application.
“An agency cannot secretly award contractors millions of dollars in public funds without public scrutiny of that spending,” according to the group’s complaint before the court.
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented from the court’s decision not to take up the case, saying that a review of the exemption on trade secrets and confidential information is needed.
The case stretches back to September 2011, when the federal government bypassed New Hampshire to give Planned Parenthood of Northern New England a grant.
New Hampshire was given grant money to dole out to agencies, but decided not to give Planned Parenthood any of the funds. At the time questions were swirling about whether Planned Parenthood was using federal funds to subsidize its abortion activities.
It is illegal under federal law for federal funds to be used for abortion.
New Hampshire Right to Life asked the federal government in its FOIA request for all documents relating to the grant. That included the manual, which each Planned Parenthood chapter must abide by to get accreditation from the main body.
Planned Parenthood is the subject of a controversial set of undercover videos released earlier this year that discuss the harvesting of aborted fetal body parts. The videos have sparked congressional investigations and attempts to stop giving the $500 million in federal funds doled out each year to the organization.
