A Fifth Circuit Court Judge today ruled that the State of Texas cannot cut funding to the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
LifeNews reported:
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court has overturned an appeals judge’s decision allowing Texas to ban the nation’s biggest abortion business from the state’s Women’s Health Program. The panel ruled the law Texas approved last year to prohibit abortion facilities from taking part in the program to protect taxpayers from funding abortion facilities is unconstitutional.
Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith agreed Friday to overturn the stay he recently issued allowing the state to keep the funding ban in place.
Texas officials are likely to appeal the decision to the full appeals court and have already said they will be forced to shut down the program if Planned Parenthood wins its lawsuit to force the state to fund the abortion company.
Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against Texas contending that the new law prohibiting it from participating in the Women’s Health Program is unconstitutional discrimination. The lawsuit asked the court for an injunction to stop enforcement of the rules preventing Planned Parenthood from getting taxpayer funding via the program , saying the rules violate their rights by putting an “unconstitutional condition on their participation” in the Women’s Health Program.
