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Planned Parenthood sues Jindal over Medicaid order

8 years 7 months 3 days ago Tuesday, August 25 2015 Aug 25, 2015 August 25, 2015 12:00 PM August 25, 2015 in News
Source: WBRZ
By: Russell Jones

BATON ROUGE - Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday asking a judge to stop Governor Bobby Jindal's attempt to end their Medicaid service provider agreement, and with it Medicaid funding.

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast and three patients filed the suit requesting an injunction to stop enforcement of Jindal's order, which would go into effect on Sept. 2. If that happens, the organization said more than 5,200 people receiving health care through Medicaid and Planned Parenthood would lose access to their providers and possibly those services as well.

"Many of these folks would have nowhere else to turn for health care," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "When Governor Jindal and other politicians try to cut Planned Parenthood's funding to score political points, what they're actually doing is ensuring that some women's cancer will get worse before it's caught and that HIV and other infections will spread."

Jindal, who is running for the GOP nomination for president, ordered state health officials on Aug. 3 to cancel their Medicaid provider agreement with Planned Parenthood because of videos released by anti-abortion activists which claimed the group was selling fetal tissue to researchers for a profit. Jindal also ordered an investigation into Planned Parenthood's practices in Louisiana.

Planned Parenthood said the videos were edited to cast the legal practice of tissue donation in the worst possible light, and that the only money they receive are for transportation and storage. The group does not provide abortion services in Louisiana, and has two locations in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Federal health officials already warned Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals that Jindal's order may be illegal.

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