Anti-Planned Parenthood (Indiana) Law blocked

From July 9th, 2012 - as posted in Think Progress:

A 2011 Indiana law, which would have prevented Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds, has been blocked by a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrative ruling. An initial CMS ruling, made in June, found the law unacceptable, and Indiana asked the agency to reconsider. The CMS administrator blocked the law on the grounds that it denies women the freedom to choose their health care providers. 

The law would have made Indiana the first state to deny Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood funds for general health screenings. According to one estimate, 9,300 Indiana women rely on Planned Parenthood for their health care, which includes cancer screenings, STD testing, and birth control. Indiana is trying to deny Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood because they also perform abortions: 

Indiana had argued that Medicaid funds intended to help groups like Planned Parenthood provide general health care would indirectly subsidize abortions. The Hyde Amendment, a 1976 provision named after the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., bans all federal funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk. 

The state also said Planned Parenthood could continue to receive Medicaid funding if it established separate fiscal entities for abortion and other health care. But CMS said such an option was premature. 

Hearing officer Benjamin Cohen wrote that the Indiana law violated the federal requirement that individuals must have the freedom to obtain care from any qualified provider. Restricting that choice just because a care provider also offers non-covered care isn’t allowed, he wrote. 

The law is being challenged on parallel tracks, both administratively at CMS and in federal court. The challenge in federal court is ongoing, but a lower court ruling agreed with CMS that Indiana is likely to lose the challenge. 

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And from Reuters (Tue Jul 17, 2012) - 

Planned Parenthood on Monday sued the state of Arizona in an effort to overturn a law that blocks funding for its health clinics because the organization also performs abortions. 

The law, signed by Governor Jan Brewer in May, is part of a national campaign against Planned Parenthood orchestrated by conservatives Republican lawmakers who oppose abortions. In the past two years, 13 states have taken steps to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, and the organization has filed lawsuits in six of them, including Arizona.Planned Parenthood says abortions account for only 3 percent of its services, which include cancer screening and birth control. 

"It is wrong for the state to tell Arizonans who they can and cannot see for their healthcare. The men and women of this state have the right to see the healthcare provider they deem is best for them," said Bryan Howard, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Arizona.... 

"We're in court and in legislatures in almost every state in the country," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. "It has just gotten crazy. This is what I hear from women -- Republican women, independent women all over the country: They cannot believe that the Republican Party leadership is on a crusade to end birth-control access in America." 

....Anti-abortion advocates have long wanted to target Planned Parenthood, but until recently it was not politically feasible, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a Washington, D.C., group that works to elect anti-abortion candidates. 

"No one wanted to be perceived as being against family planning," said Dannenfelser, who said her group co-wrote model state legislation that was the basis for the Arizona law. "Any effort to defund (Planned Parenthood) was doomed to fail." 

That changed in 2010, after anti-abortion Republicans swept federal and state elections. Richards said Planned Parenthood's state and federal battles stem from a proposal by U.S. Representative Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican who last year spearheaded an unsuccessful effort to strip funding for Planned Parenthood from the federal budget. Pence is the Republican nominee for governor of Indiana in the November election... 

Pence's campaign made it politically acceptable to attack Planned Parenthood, Dannenfelser said... 

At the end of May, Planned Parenthood Action Fund announced its endorsement of Obama and said it would spend more than $1.4 million on an anti-Romney ad campaign."We're going to make sure every woman in America knows where candidates stand," Richards said. "What we have seen consistently is that when a politician says they're going to get rid of Planned Parenthood, women don't support them."