Planned Parenthood ruling limits funding

LITTLE ROCK — A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Friday afternoon preventing Arkansas from cutting off funding for three Planned Parenthood clients who have sued the state.

In response, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he would comply with the order, but would block any funding for the services Planned Parenthood provides to hundreds of other Arkansans on Medicaid.

“The Court’s ruling is limited to three individuals. The decision allows the state to prohibit Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood in all other circumstances,” he said in a statement. “It is my intent to direct [the Department of Human Services] to prohibit funding to Planned Parenthood consistent with the Court’s ruling.”

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker wrote that her order will remain in force until she says otherwise. The judge had previously prevented defunding Planned

Parenthood of the Heartland, but that order was short-term and set to expire Friday at 4:55 p.m.

The anonymous clients, called Jane Does in the lawsuit, are suing as individuals, not in a representative capacity, Baker wrote.

“While I respectfully disagree with much in the Court’s order, I am pleased that the injunction the Court issued only applies narrowly to the three individual plaintiffs in the case,” said Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge in a statement.

Still, Baker said that the state is likely violating the law by withholding Medicaid funds from the organization. She also said the Jane Does likely would suffer “irreparable harm” if they were not granted a preliminary injunction.

“Governor Hutchinson’s order to cancel Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid contract is illegal and it does not reflect the values of Arkansans who care about women’s health,” said Suzanna de Baca, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, in a statement.

Hutchinson has said other organizations could pick up Planned Parenthood’s dropped Medicaid patients.

Baker said she wasn’t convinced by the state’s position that, “alleged long wait times when appointments are secured, and overall scheduling issues, is not harm great enough to meet the Jane Does’ burden of proof on irreparable harm, especially when family planning and reproductive health care needs are at issue.”

She said the “Arkansas Department of Health’s own documents reflect that long wait times and delays in scheduling appointments are commonplace among county health clinics that offer family planning services and other preventative care.”

In an August interview, Bradley Planey, chief of the Department of Health’s Family Health Branch, said his division saw about 55,000 Arkansans last year.

Two doctors and 38 nurse practitioners work under him. Family health services are available at 92 clinics around the state; some of those are open only a few days a month.

The governor initially cut ties with the organization after the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress released edited clips of conversations with Planned Parenthood executives, doctors and staff members in other states talking about how much money the organization would receive for providing various fetal parts for medical research.

Critics accused Planned Parenthood of violating the law by selling the material. The organization said it doesn’t profit from the sales and only charges enough to pay for expenses including shipping.

The state Medicaid program paid Planned Parenthood $241,554 in fiscal 2010 for family planning services; $168,993 in 2011; $127,673 in 2012; $139,864 in 2013; $139,456 in 2014; and $51,429 so far in 2015. Services include counseling, contraception, Pap tests, sexually transmitted disease testing and physical exams.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland — which runs two clinics in Arkansas as well as 17 others in Iowa, Nebraska and eastern Oklahoma — had a budget of about $25 million in 2012, according to forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

The clinics, in Fayetteville and Little Rock, offer medication-induced abortions, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, contraception and other services.

The clinics served about 4,000 patients in fiscal 2014. One in 4 was on Medicaid, de Baca said.

Medicaid has spent about $2.1 million on family planning in Arkansas this year, according to an analysis of data from the Department of Human Services.

According to the lawsuit, the Planned Parenthood claims that the state has violated the Medicaid Act and the First and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantee free speech and equal protection under the law.

Several other states also are fighting to defund Planned Parenthood, including Louisiana, Alabama and Utah.

The U.S. Department of Justice is challenging Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s attempt to end Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s contract with his state’s Medicaid program.

Federal officials said the state removed the provider from its Medicaid program without cause.