Planned Parenthood in Louisiana must continue to be funded by Medicaid dollars for the next 14 days, a U.S. District Judge ruled Sunday in a lawsuit against Gov. Bobby Jindal’s attempt to halt federal funding for the organization.
The suit followed the release of edited videos by the Center for Medical Progress in July, which purported Planned Parenthood profited illegally from selling fetal tissue samples.
U.S. District Judge John deGravelles made the ruling after hearings in September and October, and a new hearing date will be set during a conference call Monday afternoon.
The state’s two Planned Parenthood facilities in Baton Rouge and New Orleans do not perform abortions but serve around 5,200 patients, according to the judge’s order.
The order protects access to birth control, cancer screenings and other preventative health care while the case against Planned Parenthood continues, according to a Planned Parenthood news release.
The release claimed deGravelles’ order as a victory for the recipients of women’s health care through Medicaid.
“This case was never about Planned Parenthood — it’s about the women who rely on us for basic care every day,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in the release. “The anti-abortion extremists and politicians behind these attacks are pushing a dangerous agenda far outside the mainstream. The public and the facts are on our side.”
President of Louisiana Students for Life and psychology junior Cisco Gonzales said deGravelles was appointed by President Barack Obama, who is “100 percent in support of Planned Parenthood.”
Gonzales said Louisiana is attempting to stop Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood not because of the controversial videos but because of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Medicaid fraud in Texas.
“Of course the videos that were released were indeed horrible to watch, and it brought a lot of attention to the organization,” he said. “But on top of everything else, Medicaid fraud is the big issue, and Jindal himself came out after talking about the videos, that the reason why he was doing this was because of the Medicaid fraud.”
Louisiana boasts around 200 federally-funded women’s health care centers, Gonzales added, and Planned Parenthood stands in the way of those facilities receiving federal dollars.
He said declining Medicaid payments to the Louisiana Planned Parenthood centers would not “kill women’s health,” as not all patients receive Medicaid. DeGravelles’ order stated 75 percent of visits to the Baton Rouge center were by patients enrolled in Medicaid.
Protesters hold signs outside the planned parenthood health center on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015 on Government Street.
