Federal District Court Judge grants temporary injunction for defunding Planned Parenthood

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports that U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake has temporarily blocked Arizona from implementing a new law that prohibits public funds from going to Planned Parenthood. Court blocks recent Arizona abortion law targeting Planned Parenthood’s funding:

The law bars the state from contracting with or making a grant to any entity that performs an abortion or maintains an abortion facility.

The law, which was set to go into effect Thursday, directly targets Planned Parenthood by making it ineligible to get public funding for non-abortion services.

The law also requires public funds for family planning to only go to certain places, such as state-owned health care centers and rural hospitals. The bill specifies their order of priority.

Judge Neil Wake of the U.S District Court in Phoenix didn’t cite a specific reason for temporarily blocking the Arizona law.

He said his order, issued last week, is in effect until he makes a final decision on a preliminary injunction being sought by Planned Parenthood.

In his two-page order, Read the court ruling(.pdf), Wake said qualified providers of Medicaid services may continue to perform legal abortions without being disqualified from getting reimbursement for medical services that are covered by Medicaid until he issues a final ruling.

“This case isn’t about Planned Parenthood — it’s about the women who rely on us for cancer screenings and birth control,” said Bryan Howard, the group’s president and CEO, reacting to the court order.

Critics said the proposal is an attack not only on Planned Parenthood but also on low-income women.

Earlier, Sen. Linda Lopez, a Democrat from Tucson, said poor women have been made “pawns” in the efforts to close the doors of Planned Parenthood.