By Tim Gaynor
PHOENIX, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A federal judge blocked Arizona
on Friday from applying a new law that bars Planned Parenthood
clinics from receiving money through the state to provide
medical care because the women's health organization also
performs abortions.
U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake issued a temporary
injunction after Planned Parenthood sued over the law, which
would have cut off Medicaid funding for family planning and
health services delivered by organizations offering abortions.
Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that provides health
care coverage for low-income people.
The law, signed by Governor Jan Brewer in May, is part of a
national campaign against Planned Parenthood orchestrated by
conservative Republican lawmakers who oppose abortion.
Planned Parenthood had argued in its lawsuit that it was
wrong for the state to tell Arizonans who they can and cannot
see for their healthcare, and the judge said the organization
was likely to succeed on the merits of its case.
Arizona Solicitor General David Cole said the judge's ruling
"did not come as a shock."
"It's not the result we would have hoped, but it's not a
ruling on the merits," Cole told Reuters, noting that a hearing
on the issues in the case would be held in early December.
Bryan Howard, the president of Planned Parenthood Arizona,
called the ruling "a victory for poor women" in the state. With
the ruling, their health care will not be interrupted while the
case moves forward, he said.
"Today's ruling affirms what we have said all along: no
woman should ever have to fear being cut off from her doctor's
care because of shortsighted political games," Howard said in a
statement.
The organization says abortions account for only 3 percent
of its services, which include cancer screening and birth
control.
In the past two years, conservative Republicans in more than
a dozen states have taken steps to eliminate funding for Planned
Parenthood, and the organization has filed lawsuits in at least
six of them, including Arizona.
Arizona does not provide tax dollars for abortion, but
backers said the law was needed to make sure that no indirect
money was funneled to organizations like Planned Parenthood that
provide abortion and other health services.
But officials at Planned Parenthood Arizona, the state's
largest abortion provider, said the law meant that thousands of
women in the state would go without life-saving cancer
screenings, birth control and basic healthcare.
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