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Saturday, June 18, 2011
Ind. Courts - Surprise filing by US DOJ may extend timetable in Planned Parenthood case
Updating this entry yesterday, which includes a link to the US DOJ brief, Heather Gillers of the Indianapolis Star has a story this morning headed "State gets a week to reply to feds in Planned Parenthood case: Planned Parenthood says it must stop seeing Medicaid patients Monday." Some quotes:
U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt is giving the state a full week to respond to a U.S. Department of Justice brief filed late Thursday that sides with Planned Parenthood of Indiana. It's unlikely the judge will rule until after she gets that response.The delay means Planned Parenthood will have to stop seeing Medicaid patients when donations run out Monday, said spokeswoman Kate Shepherd. The health provider has been using private contributions to pay for birth control, tests for sexually transmitted disease, cancer scans and other services for its 9,300 Medicaid patients since the law cutting off its Medicaid funding took effect May 10.
It will take Pratt many months to decide whether the law should stand, but she has said repeatedly that she intends to decide by July 1 whether to grant Planned Parenthood's request to suspend enforcement of the law while the court case plays out.
The U.S. Justice Department brief argued that Pratt should grant the preliminary injunction because cutting off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood violates federal rules against picking and choosing where Medicaid patients can receive services.
"Although Indiana claims that its decision to deny payment for covered Medicaid services to providers who perform abortion services serves the public interest, Congress has already made a contrary policy judgment: that beneficiaries should receive Medicaid services from providers of their own choosing," wrote Assistant Attorney General Tony West.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 18, 2011 09:46 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts