Judge decides fate of Planned Parenthood

AUSTIN (AP/KXAN) - Planned Parenthood asked a state judge Thursday to stop Texas's health agency from banning its clinics from the Women's Health Program, saying the move violates state law.

The organization wants to extend a temporary order issued two weeks ago that stopped Texas from defunding clinics and doctors that have ties to groups that provide abortions. A new rule, which took effect this month, effectively denies critical funding to Planned Parenthood clinics that provide preventive health care and contraception services to poor women, even though they do not provide abortions and are financially separate institutions.

Planned Parenthood attorneys recently lost a federal lawsuit that hinged on a doctor's right to freedom of speech and association. The argument before state District Judge Steve Yelenosky on Thursday hinged on whether the so-called "affiliate rule" violates federal law, and therefore cannot be enforced under state law.

Yelenosky must decide Thursday if Planned Parenthood has a chance to win its lawsuit against the state and whether an injunction is needed until a trial can take place.

Steve McKetta, arguing for Planned Parenthood, explained that a section of Texas law clearly states that any rule that violated federal law, and therefore endangers federal matching funds, is automatically inoperable. He said that lawmakers have made it clear that the state Department of Health and Human Services should do everything possible to gain federal matching funds for health programs.

The federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a letter to state officials on Wednesday that said the affiliate rule violates federal law, and therefore the center was cutting off $36 million a year for the Women's Health Program on Dec. 31.

Gov. Rick Perry has known since March that federal officials would cut off funding and ordered state officials to develop a new program that depended solely on state funding. That program was due to launch on Nov. 1, but Perry and Health and Human Services Commissioner Kyle Janek said they would continue to accept federal funding for as long as possible.

However, Perry did say that he would cut off funding to Planned Parenthood immediately, and Planned Parenthood won a temporary order the next day to retain funding. Janek and Perry have both said they will cut the Women's Health Program, which provides services to 110,000 poor women, if a court decided the affiliate rule is illegal and the state must fund Planned Parenthood clinics that do not provide abortions.

Perry said state lawmakers made it clear that they don't want any state funds to reach groups such as Planned Parenthood under any circumstances.

Assistant Solicitor General Kristofer Monson argued that the court should not interpret state law in a way that would interfere with the state executive branch performing its duty to write administrative rules.

Planned Parenthood clinics provided services to 50,000 women from 40 health centers under the Women's Health Program. They presented an expert witness on reproductive health, Joseph Potter, who testified that his research shows that other doctors do not have the capacity to take for all of the poor women where Planned Parenthood operates in impoverished areas.

Janek has said his agency has signed up thousands of doctors, but his agency has not tested whether there is enough capacity to absorb all of the women who currently rely on Planned Parenthood for basic health needs.

Update at 4 p.m.: Judge Stephen Yelenosky of the District Court of Travis County did grant Planned Parenthood's request for a temporary injunction. The Court's order prevents the state from implementing its "Affiliate Ban Rule," by which the state has sought to exclude Planned Parenthood from the Women's Health Program.