A federal judge has temporarily blocked Alabama from terminating Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
Gov. Robert Bentley, R-Ala., ordered that the state end its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood after the Center for Medical Progress released a series of undercover videos that raised allegations that the organization is trafficking the body parts of aborted babies. The most recent video was released on Tuesday.
Profiting from the sale of human organs—including those of the unborn—is a felony in the United States.
Planned Parenthood has denied illegal conduct, and recently announced it will no longer accept “reimbursement” for donations of aborted babies’ body parts to researchers.
According to the AP, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday that temporarily prevented Bentley and the state of Alabama from ending Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood, arguing that ending the contracts “likely violated a free-choice-of-provider provision of the federal Medicaid Act.”
In a recent op-ed, Sarah Torre, a policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, called the argument that defunding Planned Parenthood “could run afoul” of the Medicaid statute “flawed.”
“Planned Parenthood does not have a right to the hard-earned money of American taxpayers,” Torre wrote.
In a statement, Bentley said:
“For the last two months, Alabama has denied payment to Planned Parenthood Southeast. The good news is that as a result of the strong opposition by Alabama and a few other states to the practice of accepting reimbursement for harvesting fetal organs, the national Planned Parenthood organization has changed course and will no longer continue this deplorable practice. I am disappointed, and vehemently disagree with the court’s ruling today. We are reviewing the opinion and will determine the next legal steps within the appeal period.”
Staci Fox, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, told the AP, “Today’s ruling is a victory for the women who rely on Planned Parenthood for quality, compassionate affordable health care.”
“It’s outrageous that Governor Bentley is trying to take care away from women and families in our communities who need it the most,” Fox added.
Rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala., criticized the judge’s ruling.
“No taxpayer should be forced to fund an organization that aborts more than 350,000 unborn babies every year, and no state should be forced to contract services through the nation’s largest abortion provider,” Roby said in a statement.
“That’s why my pro-life colleagues and I in Congress must fight to make sure states like Alabama have the legal tools necessary to sever contracts with Planned Parenthood or any organization that performs abortions,” she added.
Roby also encouraged the Senate to consider the Women’s Public Health and Safety Act, which was passed by the House earlier this month and would allow states to terminate Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood or other abortion providers.
