Judge Permanently Blocks Ohio Law to Defund Planned Parenthood

OH already has a law barring the use of state funding for abortions.

A federal judge blocked an OH law aimed at keeping public money from going to Planned Parenthood, saying in a Friday ruling that the group stood to suffer “irreparable injury”.

The judge made permanent his prior preliminary order in May that prevents the state Department of Health from carrying out its plan to deny 28 Planned Parenthood clinics the last $1.3 million in federal funds it had been sending their way for health services not tied to abortion. The money goes to programs separate from abortion, such as work to fight HIV/AIDS in communities of color, provide sexual health education for young people, offer breast and cervical cancer prevention, work to end sexual violence against women, reduce infant mortality and STD prevention. The judge is set to reconsider whether Dear, who acknowledges killing three people at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic, is competent to continue his court case.

In 2015, the Republican Party launched an aggressive campaign to defund and effectively dismantle the organization for its abortion services.

A judge is continuing to force OH to fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business with taxpayer dollars.

The state’s attorneys argued Planned Parenthood is trying to override state policy choices, and no entity has a constitutional right to receive public money.

The defense has also asked the judge to notify them before the state hospital takes any steps to force medicate Dear.

The group’s attorneys say the law is unconstitutional because it requires, as a condition of receiving government funds, that recipients abandon their constitutionally protected rights to free speech and to provide abortion services. Governor John Kasich recently signed the pro-life bill into law.

“Today’s ruling supports the rights of all Ohioans to access needed health care”.

In December, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine revealed that in Ohio, Planned Parenthood locations are contracting with companies that dump fetal remains in landfills.

“OH has a history of preferring childbirth over abortion and this common sense and life-enhancing citizen policy has been ignored by this activist judge”.

Judge Barrett had originally placed the law on hold in May and has temporarily extended his stay since then while he presided over hearings.

Dear faces 179 counts, including eight charges of first-degree murder, for the November 27 shootings at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic that killed three people, including a police officer, and wounded nine others.

Anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life, which lobbied in support of the funding changes, said the judge’s ruling violates the state’s rights and the conscience rights of taxpayers. Planned Parenthood has no right to the hard earned dollars of taxpayers.