Court Blocks Indiana’s Ban on Payments to Planned Parenthood

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that an Indiana law barring Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood clinics improperly inserts the state between women and their doctors, the Associated Press reports.

The decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago represents the latest legal setback for conservative lawmakers who have sought to cut off government funds for Planned Parenthood in more than a dozen states because the organization provides abortions. On Friday an Arizona judge issued an injunction blocking a similar measure in that state.

Upholding a June 2011 lower-court ruling, a panel of 7th Circuit judges in the Indiana case said the law “excludes Planned Parenthood from Medicaid for a reason unrelated to its fitness to provide medical services, violating its patients’ statutory right to obtain medical care from the qualified provider of their choice.”

The Medicaid money pays for family planning and other women’s health services, including cancer screenings, at Planned Parenthood facilities. Proponents of cutting off the payments say they violated Medicaid regulations by indirectly supporting abortion services.

A spokesman for the Indiana attorney general’s office said the state was reviewing the appeals-court opinion. The state could seek a review by the full 7th Circuit Court or take the case to the Supreme Court.