Judge denies state’s request in suit over Medicaid funding

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker on Monday denied the state of Arkansas’ request that she decertify a class-action lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ discontinuation of Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood services.

Attorneys for the state sought the decertification in February.

In 2015, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of three anonymous women to challenge Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s directive to cut off Medicaid funding for the services, which include contraception; cancer screenings; breast exams and colonoscopies; tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections; and education programs. Although Planned Parenthood also provides medication-induced abortions, the state already prevented Medicaid funds from being used to cover abortions.

Baker initially prevented the state from cutting off funding for the anonymous plaintiffs.

Later, after she certified the case as a class action, she expanded her injunction to make it apply to all Medicaid patients in Arkansas who choose Planned Parenthood as a provider.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later vacated both injunctions, saying federal law doesn’t create an enforceable right for individual patients. That caused the clinics — one each in Little Rock and Fayetteville — to discontinue providing services for Medicaid patients earlier this year.

Planned Parenthood is continuing to pursue a claim that the funding cutoff violates equal protection rights. In July, Baker refused to grant a preliminary injunction on that claim, but she has set a bench trial on the issue for Feb. 3, 2020.

The governor’s directive on Aug. 14, 2015, cited nationally released videos that appeared to show that Planned Parenthood clinics in other state were violating medical guidelines and laws. However, the videos were later discredited, and government investigations found no wrongdoing on the part of Planned Parenthood.