By Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman –
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge in Austin ruled Monday that Texas officials cannot exclude Planned Parenthood from a health care and contraception program for low-income women.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel was a victory for Planned Parenthood that may prove short-lived. State officials have warned that they would have to cancel the Women’s Health Program if Planned Parenthood prevailed in its lawsuit.
Yeakel granted Planned Parenthood’s request for a preliminary injunction to allow it to continue serving women, and being reimbursed, under the program. Yeakel will have to hold a trial before the injunction could become permanent, and he set a May 18 scheduling conference to work out the details, including setting a trial date.
Under state rules adopted in February, Planned Parenthood health clinics would have been excluded from participating in the program beginning Tuesday because they are affiliated with an organization that provides abortions and advocates to keep the procedure legal — Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
The state rule, Yeakel determined, violated Planned Parenthood’s rights of free speech and association.
“By requiring plaintiffs to certify that they do not ‘promote’ elective abortions and that they do not ‘affiliate’ with entities that perform or promote elective abortions … Texas is reaching beyond the scope of the government program and penalizing plaintiffs for their protected conduct,” Yeakel wrote in his order.
Texas officials are weighing their options.
“We received the judge’s order and will comply with the ruling, but we remain confident that federal law gives states the right to establish criteria for Medicaid providers,” said Stephanie Goodman, spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. “We will work with the attorney general’s office to determine our next steps.”
The Women’s Health Program, which receives 90 percent of its funding from the federal government, provides about 130,000 women a year with contraceptive care and potentially life-saving screenings for a wide range of conditions, including sexually transmitted infections, high blood pressure, cancer and diabetes.
According to Tom Suehs, executive director of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, state law bans abortion providers and their affiliates — specifically Planned Parenthood — from participating in the program.
“If plaintiffs obtain an injunction forbidding state officials to exclude Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid Women’s Health Program or any similar successor programs, state law will require the commission to cease operating the program upon termination of federal funding,” Suehs told Yeakel in an affidavit.
“The commission will not introduce a similar successor program unless otherwise directed by the Legislature,” Suehs added.
Planned Parenthood counters that the law does not tie the state’s hands, saying the program could continue even with the organization’s participation.
The ban on abortion providers or their affiliates has existed since the Women’s Health Program was created in 2005, but Planned Parenthood was able to become the program’s largest participant — serving about 50,000 women annually — by spinning off its health centers into a separate entity from its abortion facilities.
Based on federal court rulings in other states, which found similar bans unconstitutional, state health department lawyers determined that Texas could risk federal funding if Planned Parenthood was banned.
However, an opinion from Attorney General Greg Abbott last year found that banning the organization would not violate the law or the U.S. Constitution, and earlier this year state officials drafted new rules to exclude Planned Parenthood.
In response, the federal government announced in March that the ban would violate federal law, which requires that women be able to choose from any qualified, willing health care provider. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ordered Texas to begin phasing out the program, which would no longer receive federal money.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry responded by promising to continue the program with state money, an estimated $33 million this year.
And Abbott filed a separate lawsuit arguing that the federal decision to defund the Women’s Health Program is illegal and violates the U.S. Constitution. That lawsuit is pending.
Planned Parenthood officials praised the ruling and criticized state officials who indicated that such a victory would lead to the end of the Women’s Health Program.
“For many women, we are the only doctor’s visit they will have this year,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “This ruling affirms what women have known all along: Politics simply doesn’t have a place in women’s health.”
Patricio Gonzales, CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County, called on Perry and other state officials to put aside their “vendetta” against the organization. “No woman should ever have to fear being cut off from her doctor’s care because of short-sighted political games,” Gonzales said.
