A federal district court judge blocked an Ohio law Friday, which would have stripped state funds from Planned Parenthood and similar organizations that perform or promote non therapeutic abortions.
Judge Michael R. Barrett of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ruled that the action against Planned Parenthood would result in irreparable injury and infringes on the various rights guaranteed to the organization under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
House Bill 294 aimed to divert state funds from organizations that either offer abortions or contract with those who do. While the bill wouldn’t have changed anything about how abortions are funded (state funds never went to abortions in the first place), under the law, Planned Parenthood would no longer receive state money that had allowed them to provide six specific programs addressing STD prevention, infant mortality, HIV/AIDs in minorities, breast and cervical cancer screenings and violence against women.
“This law would end access to nearly 70,000 free STD screenings that Planned Parenthood provides through the CDC STD Prevention program,” according to a press release. “It would also cut more than 5,000 free HIV and STD tests for individuals with higher risk factors for HIV, particularly within communities of African American women and men who have sex with men.”
Government scrutiny of Planned Parenthood was initiated last year during a media storm of accusations against the group, claiming it was unlawfully harvesting and selling fetal tissue for profit and dumping the remains in landfills. Attorney General Mike DeWine led an investigation of Planned Parenthood clinics in Ohio, finding no evidence to substantiate the claims.
These allegations, however, led to the creation and passage of bills defunding Planned Parenthood in 24 states, with Gov. John Kasich signing Ohio’s version into law in May of this year.
Days later, on May 11, Planned Parenthood filed the lawsuit against Ohio “to protect access to health care and education for tens of thousands of Ohioans, including free HIV tests, cancer screenings, domestic violence education through the Violence Against Women Act, much-needed sex education for youth in foster care and the juvenile detention system, and Planned Parenthood’s Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies program.”
The court ultimately granted permanent injunction, arguing that the action against Planned Parenthood would cause ‘irreparable injury.’
It also ruled the law unconstitutional because of its restrictions on free expression of association and its infringement on the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Defendant, Ohio Department of Health Director Richard Hodges, argued that state legislatures have “wide latitude in choosing among competing demands for limited public funds,” but that is only as long as the legislation “doesn’t infringe on other constitutionally protected rights,” according to the court order.
The protections of the First Amendment extend well beyond the simple right to speak; it also covers the right to freely express an association. In Planned Parenthood’s case, they freely express their association with the reproductive rights movement, and specifically the abortion rights movement.
Even though the state is by no means required to fund non therapeutic abortions, it can’t choose to provide or deny benefits on the condition that the person or organization align its political association with those in a government office.
“For our patients, it’s not about politics, it’s about their health and their lives,” said Jerry Lawson, CEO of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio, in a release. “If you have a lump in your breast or need an HIV test, lawmakers should be making it easier, not harder, to get the care you need.”
The state does plan on appealing to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.