Attorneys for the state of Louisiana are trying to revive the state’s Medicaid funding cut for Planned Parenthood clinics.
Earlier this month, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction blocking the cut, which would have kept needy Louisiana women from getting non-abortion services at Planned Parenthood facilities. Now, the state has asked the full court to rehear the case, The Associated Press reports.
Former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration moved to cut Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood following the release of stealth videos that abortion opponents claimed showed Planned Parenthood officials outside Louisiana selling fetal tissue for profit.
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, the group’s Louisiana affiliate, and three of its patients challenged the funding cutoff in federal court. They said the attempt to cut funding for the organization’s non-abortion-related services in Baton Rouge and New Orleans was politically motivated and would leave the women with no place to get needed care.
State attorneys said in documents filed Wednesday that Planned Parenthood should have gone through an administrative process instead of to court. And they said the panel ruling is at odds with Supreme Court precedent regarding the extent of a Medicaid recipient’s right to choose a care provider.
The appellate panel opinion was unanimous. A rehearing would require a vote of the majority of the current 15 active 5th Circuit judges.
