A federal court in Texas today stopped the Texas legislature from denying Planned Parenthood funding from the state’s Women’s Health Program. The federal judge imposed a preliminary injunction on the law, over which Planned Parenthood sued a few weeks ago. Texas’s Planned Parenthood provides medical services to over 130,000 Texan women every year, and the law would apply to even those health clinics that do not provide abortion. According to Planned Parenthood, “over 40 percent of women who received services through the Women’s Health Program chose to rely on a Planned Parenthood health center for Women’s Health Program services.” In a response to today’s decision by the court, Patricio Gonzales, CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County, said “The health and well-being of our patients is our number-one priority. We hope that this decision will allow us to continue our lifesaving work of providing high-quality health care and cancer screenings to some of Texas’ most vulnerable women.”
Update:
An appellate judge granted the state a stay in yesterday’s ruling, which the Texas attorney general had quickly appealed. Judge Jerry Smith granted the stay on yesterday’s ruling Monday night.