States Attack Planned Parenthood on Funding, Regs

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North Carolina Lawmakers here passed a budget May 4 that, for the first and only time, explicitly banned Planned Parenthood of North Carolina from all federal funding. Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit requesting that federal Judge James A. Beaty Jr. stop the defunding policy. On Aug. 19, he issued a preliminary injunction on the law and required the state to continue public funding for Planned Parenthood throughout the trial. Beaty cited rulings from similar lawsuits in Kansas and Illinois and as of Aug. 25, North Carolina lawmakers were considering appealing the decision for continued funding. The state has 30 days after the Aug. 19 ruling to decide if they will appeal it, said Melissa Reed, vice president for public policy for Planned Parenthood Health Systems, in a phone interview with Women's eNews. The court date for the lawsuit trial has not yet been set. Arizona On the budgetary front, lawmakers here banned public funding for any program that trains medical students how to perform abortions. They also changed tax laws to prevent donations to any organization that supports, funds or is affiliated with abortions or abortion providers from being tax-deductible. On the regulatory front, in August, the Arizona Court of Appeals decided in favor of the state in the case Planned Parenthood Arizona v. Horne, allowing the state to enforce 2009 regulations that severely restrict access to abortions and family clinics. Planned Parenthood of Arizona ceased providing medically induced abortions--or fetal terminations via oral pills--at three locations and closed one affiliate location due to the regulations. For now, Arizona Planned Parenthood is following the example of affiliates in New Jersey, which lost all of their state funding for 2011 and closed clinics. They have been compiling data on the negative public health effects of those closures and do not plan to appeal the decision, though this too could change. Would you like to Comment but not sure how? Visit our help page at http://www.womensenews.org/help-making-comments-womens-enews-stories. Would you like to Send Along a Link of This Story?http://www.womensenews.org/story/reproductive-health/110913/states-attack-planned-parenthood-funding-regs Marley Gibbons is an editorial intern at Women's eNews. For more information: >"States Enact Record Number of Abortion Restrictions in First Half of 2011," Guttmacher Institute:http://www.guttmacher.org/media/inthenews/2011/07/13/index.html 2011 at the Midpoint: The State of Reproductive Rights" Center for Reproductive Rights:http://reproductiverights.org/en/feature/2011-at-the-midpoint-the-state-of-reproductive-rights Planned Parenthood vs. The States: The Legal Battles Rage," Huffington Post:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/24/planned-parenthood-defunding_n_935134.html?ref=email_share Planned Parenthood vs. The States: The Legal Battles Rage," Huffington Post:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/24/planned-parenthood-defunding_n_935134.html?ref=email_share The Consequence, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of New Jersey NJPP Consequences, April 2011:http://www.plannedparenthoodnj.org/library/consequences