Texas law's exclusion of Planned Parenthood blocked by federal judge

District judge rules that law banning the healthcare provider from the state's Women's Health Program is unconstitutional
Planned Parenthood members
The federal government has cut off Medicaid funding to Texas because of the law. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Reuters

A federal judge has blocked plans by Texas authorities to stop Planned Parenthood from receiving state funds through its Women's Health Program.

US district judge Lee Yeakel agreed with the healthcare provider that there is enough evidence that a new law banning it from the programme is unconstitutional. He imposed an injunction against implementing it until a full trial next month.

Texas attorney general Greg Abbott appealed Yeakel's decision to the 5th US circuit court of appeals, asking that it remove the injunction.

Eight Planned Parenthood clinics that do not provide abortions sued the Texas health and human services commission over the new law, which was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature last year. They say that the law restricts their freedom of speech and association to participate in state health programmes based on their affiliation with legally and financially separate entities that offer abortions.

The program services about 130,000 low-income women in the state.

In his ruling, Yeakel said he was particularly influenced by the potential loss of access to medical services by thousands of women in Texas.

"In balancing the relative harm to the parties and the court's concern for the interest of the public, the court is particularly influenced by the potential for immediate loss of access to necessary medical services by several thousand Texas women," he wrote.


Planned Parenthood has provided sworn declarations to the court to establish that the loss of funding will deprive thousands of Texas women of "critical health services", especially in rural areas in which no alternative provider to the WHP is available.

The group welcomed the ruling and criticised the state for what it described as "political games" behind the new law.

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said: "Tens of thousands of Texan women enrolled in the Women's Health Program rely on Planned Parenthood for lifesaving cancer screenings, annual exams, and access to birth control. For many women, we are the only doctor's visit they will have this year. This ruling affirms what women have known all along: politics simply doesn't have a place in women's health."

At least 49% of the 103,000 women who obtained serviced through the WHP in 2010 obtained some service at a Planned Parenthood provider, according to the group.

The WHP was set up in 2005 to provide uninsured women access to family planning services. It supplies cancer screenings, annual exams, and access to birth control.

Officials in Texas have said that if the state is forced to allow Planned Parenthood to participate in the programme, they are likely to shut it down altogether.

Patricio Gonzales, CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Hilgado County, where it provides services to 6,500 women, said: "We call on Governor Perry and the state to put Texan women first and set aside any vendetta they may have against Planned Parenthood.

"No woman should ever have to fear being cut off from her doctor's care because of shortsighted political games."

The court ruling, which is temporary, came after the federal government cut off Medicaid funding to Texas because of the new law's exclusion of affiliates of abortion. Federal officials said the rule violates federal law by restricting women from choosing the qualified medical provider of their choice.

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