Texas Planned Parenthood Defunding Halted By Federal Judge

A federal court in Texas ruled to stop a new law on Monday that excluded Planned Parenthood from the Texas Women's Health Program, which serves about 130,000 low-income women in the state. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled that the law was unconstitutional because it bars eight Planned Parenthood clinics that don't provide abortions from participating in the program based on their affiliation with legally and financially separate entities that offer abortions.

Yeakel also cited the fact that the Department of Health and Human Services cut off all Medicaid funding for family planning to Texas because of the new law, which could jeopardize the entire program.

"The court is particularly influenced by the potential for immediate loss of access to necessary medical services by several thousand Texas women," Yeakel wrote in his ruling. "The record before the court at this juncture reflects uncertainty as to the continued viability of the Texas Women's Health Program."

After HHS cut off Texas' Medicaid money, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) promised to make up for the $30 million funding gap and pay for the Women's Health Program with the state's own money. But conservative Texas officials have suggested that they would rather end the entire program than allow Planned Parenthood to participate in it.

Planned Parenthood pleaded with Perry on Monday to keep the program in place despite the court's ruling, because it offers cancer screenings, birth control, testing and treatment for STDs and other health exams to low-income women across the state.

"We call on Governor Perry and the state to put Texan women first and set aside any vendetta they may have against Planned Parenthood," said Patricio Gonzales, CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County. "No woman should ever have to fear being cut off from her doctor’s care because of shortsighted political games."

Perry's office did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[dbrett480]

04:25 PM on 05/16/2012

None of the planned parenthood locations involved in this offer abortions. So the point of this debate is so politicians can enjoy the sound of their own voices.

[Clark Clark]

02:31 AM on 05/05/2012

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[PDaddy2]

02:01 PM on 05/03/2012

So now the balls in Gov Perry's court, so to speak. So far as this one particular front on the GOP's assault on women's health (AKA War on Women), he alone can set the course now, either indicating that Republicans are willing to work with the Federal Courts and state funded private service providers to insure the welfare of some of the most needy and deserving women in Texas is assured, OR he can do what I'm going to bet $10,000 dollars and that is re-inforce the perception that the GOP cares less about saving 30,000,000 dollars of their state budget deficit than it does caring for its own citizens when those happen to be women.

Gov. Perry is still going to cancel the program rather than let it go forward and provide these long established medical services.

They (the GOP) don't care about women's rights over their own bodies. Period.

[robync62]

05:01 PM on 05/03/2012

They are so blinded by their anti abortion views that they cannot govern. Get them --all of them---out of office.

[kalidescopemind]

01:30 PM on 05/03/2012

And President Obama has "made up" the War on Women! HOGWASH!

[Midnight Cry]

11:30 AM on 05/05/2012

It is a myth. One of the issues is that PPFA conducts roughly 330,000 abortions each year, among 3 million people served. And, abortion is performed in Texas. The taxpayers are helping fund this with the facility, etc. Planned Parenthood is a wonderful organization, but taxpayers should not help fund abortion. It should be a separate entity. No woman taxpayer wants to pay for someone else's abortion.

[kalidescopemind]

01:27 PM on 05/05/2012

BS!

[kalidescopemind]

02:03 PM on 05/07/2012

Can you read a headline?

[l78lancer]

01:28 PM on 05/03/2012

Rick Perry is proof positive that Planned Parenthood came about after him.

[Midnight Cry]

11:30 AM on 05/05/2012

and Obam is also.

[l78lancer]

11:33 PM on 05/05/2012

Wah!

[jamiewarhol]

12:53 PM on 05/03/2012

Poor Patricio Gonzales, CEO of a Planned Parenthood region in Texas, gonna be fighting forever. Hooray for small "victories!"

[Bystander]

11:24 AM on 05/03/2012

On May 2, a federal appeals court judge stayed the injunction imposed by the federal court. This, of course, is very pleasing!

[RobertHenryEller]

12:48 AM on 05/03/2012

It should be clear how vital Planned Parenthood's services are in Texas. In fact, after the latest run-ins, it should be clear that Planned Parenthood is not doing nearly enough in Texas.

My suggestion: Planned Parenthood should cooperate with artist Christo to place a giant condom over the entire state of Texas.

[an seanchus mor]

10:45 AM on 05/03/2012

but that would only cause massive in-breeding?

[RobertHenryEller]

03:30 PM on 05/03/2012

No, the plan is non-breeding. Let them have fun with sex, without the consequences. For the rest of us, and US.

[suppjamieee]

12:42 AM on 05/03/2012

Proud to be Texan, Ashamed of Rick Perry,

[robync62]

05:03 PM on 05/03/2012

Me too!

[Fit2betied]

09:07 PM on 05/02/2012

When will our leaders learn that it's America's Women that bind us all together? They are the strength of America. To attack Women as a policy is the most foolish strategy I have ever seen. The Republican party has grabbed hold of this strategy for all it's worth and it will cost them dearly.

I will surly enjoy seeing them heading for the unemployment lines with their tails between their legs.

[Miami Don]

06:16 PM on 05/02/2012

Texas seems to keep making the headlines for the wrong reasons. Growing up in West Texas I have that independence instinctive at birth to native Texans but I'll be darned if I can put a handle on how the crazies got control of the state. The pick-up is running but nobody's driving. The educational system that used to be considered one of the best in the nation can only be compared to Kansas, While the governor thinks it’s a big deal to shoot a coyote and that the poor are disposable particularly if they are women.

Where are the Lyndon Johnson's, Ann Richard's, and all the other Texas liberals that understood the importance of good government, education, and creditability?

[ohgoodgrief99]

06:58 PM on 05/02/2012

I know that there are lots of Texans like you--it's just that the vocal minority has grabbed the steering wheel and the pick-up truck is now careening towards the ditch. I know that you can turn it around. Lately I've been remembering Molly Ivins fondly. I sure would've loved to hear her take on all this.

[Miami Don]

09:27 AM on 05/03/2012

Well said F&F

[mes7]

12:22 PM on 05/03/2012

From one old native Texan to another Don, all those good old TX liberals are dead and we don't even have Molly Ivins any more to make the Repugs look stupid ! :)

[robinhbressler]

12:12 PM on 05/02/2012

If it wasn't for PP I and my daughter wouldn't be here! When I was in my early 20s I became extremely sick and weak and had no idea what was wrong with me. I thought I might be pregnant and went to PP to have a test. As it turns out I had Graves disease and needed radition therapy. A few years later I had my daughter and if it wasn't for PP I wouldn't have lived long enough to have her.

[gingerland62]

03:06 PM on 05/02/2012

There are a million stories like yours. I probably wouldn't have my only child if it weren't for PP. This concerted,conservative attack on, not only women's health, but women's rights will be the downfall of the GOP. I don't understand how any woman can call herself a republican. They must be filled with self loathing.

[gulfwinds94]

03:29 PM on 05/02/2012

How did PP diagnose your GD? I too have GD and am deffinately a supporter of PP, but I was not aware of them doing any tests that check for thyroid function or disfunction.

[robinhbressler]

04:29 PM on 05/02/2012

When they found out that I wasn't pregnant they ran tests on my blood and found an extremely high white count.My blood barely had any colour to it when it was drawn. I later found out that if I had waited any longer that likely there wouldn't have been anything they could have done for me. My son (who was 1 at the time) would have been orphaned and my family devastated.

[leslieowenct]

11:04 AM on 05/02/2012

And they want us to think there is no war on women.... Yea, "right"!

[TuoulumneFlower]

10:34 AM on 05/02/2012

Hey right wingers who claim to love and uphold the Constitution, please read this:

Article 1, Section 9, US Constitution:.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
.

What is a Bill of Attainder? This: "... an act of a legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a judicial trial."

Like this one, singling out both Planned Parenthood and any woman who uses it for healthcare.

Which part of "No" are you having trouble with?

[Impaler]

12:21 PM on 05/02/2012

This is a silly post. PPH is not being criminally charged.

[gingerland62]

03:07 PM on 05/02/2012

They believe abortion should be a crime and the OB/GYN's are murderers.

[TuoulumneFlower]

10:20 AM on 05/03/2012

Then why are they being singled out for punishment? Destroying a particular business, not to mention denying citizens their rights, is punishment.

Frankly the fact that the Texas legislators think they can behave this way absent an actual crime, based on the idea that they don't like the way some people behave legally is even more disturbing.

[Mandalor te Siit]

04:24 PM on 05/02/2012

Like Anwar al-Awlaki was? We have been seeing much too little of this part of the Constitution.

[TuoulumneFlower]

10:21 AM on 05/03/2012

I agree. Al-Awalki however wasn't in Texas or even the United States, and a case could be made that he was an enemy combatant in a war.

Women in Texas are not that; well, except to Republicans.

[RepublicanDepression]

09:51 PM on 05/01/2012

Moved from below where it ran out of room:

conservo: “modern argument that the liberals are trying to put forth that the commerce clause gives the government permission to regulate everything that crosses state lines”

1) Prove “everything”

2) Prove “modern”

3) Prove “liberal”

With FACTS.

Or you FAIL!

Conserve: “.that is a bogus argument”

4) Prove it with FACTS! You present no FACTS! Only opinion.

5) In fact:

“The commerce power is an enumerated power of Congress and the Supreme Court has interpreted it as an express grant of authority to Congress and an affirmative limitation on the rights of the states to regulate commerce within their own borders.”
http://www.lawnix.com/cases/commerce-clause.html

Conservo: “ in that said argument would leave out absolutely NOTHING that the federal government could not take over.”

6) Wrong! It leaves out anything that is not “commerce” that is “among the several states.”

Other limitations are wishful thinking.

Conservo: “ That would make us an absolute Communist Dictatorship/Oligarchy.”

7) LOL! Prove it! With facts! OR FAIL!

8) Prove it in light of the FACT that many of the FRAMERS, including Washington required people to buy things?

PROVED:

If Health Insurance Mandates Are Unconstitutional, Why Did the Founding Fathers Back Them?
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/102620/individual-mandate-history-affordable-care-act

LOL!

Conservo EIGHT FAILS in one post!