A federal judge has ruled that Louisiana must keep funding Planned Parenthood for the next two weeks, blocking an effort by Gov. Bobby Jindal to halt the group’s Medicaid contracts.
U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles issued a temporary restraining order taking effect Monday, which bars the state’s Department of Health and Hospitals from stripping Planned Parenthood of funding for at least 14 days. He wrote that if Jindal were allowed to carrying out his aim, 5,200 Medicaid patients who visit Planned Parenthood would find their healthcare unnecessarily disrupted.
“For decades, [Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast] has served numerous at-risk individuals and helped DHH combat a host of diseases, and, in the process, become the regular provider of over 5,000 women,” deGravelles wrote. “This court ‘believes that … vulnerable population[s] should only be uprooted if practically necessary and legally warranted.'”
Soon after controversy erupted during the summer over Planned Parenthood’s participation in supplying fetal tissue for research, Jindal announced his administration would prevent the women’s health and abortion provider from receiving Medicaid funding for providing services to low-income patients.
Planned Parenthood has since announced it is banning clinics from getting reimbursed for aborted fetal tissue, one of the issues that sparked a broad backlast against the group, but Jindal’s administration has continued its effort to get Louisiana’s clinics stripped of taxpayer dollars.
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast called the ruling a victory, saying Jindal, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president and is currently ranked ninth in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings, was trying to gain politically by blocking the funds.
“It is shameful that Gov. Jindal is trying to score political points by blocking women’s access to critical healthcare,” said Melissa Flournoy, Louisiana state director of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. “For more than 30 years, Planned Parenthood in Louisiana has been there for the people who need us and has helped our communities lead healthier lives.”
