U.S. Says Indiana Law on Planned Parenthood Violates Medicaid Rules

The federal government has told Indiana that its new law barring Planned Parenthood from getting Medicaid money violates federal rules, according to the Indianapolis Star.

The Department of Health and Human Services said in a letter to state officials that states cannot choose where recipients of Medicaid receive their care, it writes.

The decision could mean Indiana will lose federal Medicaid dollars if it does not change the law, the paper writes. A spokesman for the Indiana attorney general told the Star that his office would examine its options, “but we will continue to defend the statute.”

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called the letter “a strong rebuke to Indiana” and serves as a warning to other states, the newspaper reported. But Sue Swayze, legislative director at Indiana Right to Life, said the Obama administration was “bullying” the state.

Lawmakers in seven other states are considering or have passed measures to pull government money from Planned Parenthood, The Chronicle reported.

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