Republican states were warned: Taking Medicaid funding away from a provider like Planned Parenthood for political reasons is against federal law. But Kansas went ahead and tried to do it anyway, and now a federal judge has blocked the effort.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson issued the 54-page order for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, ruling the state could not cancel Medicaid provider agreements with Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, or PPKM, and Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, or PPSLR."It is uncontroverted that PPKM and PPSLR serve hundreds of underprivileged women in the State of Kansas," Robinson said in the order. "It is in the public interest to allow these individuals to be treated by the qualified provider of their choice, and to have that provider reimbursed under Medicaid pending a trial on the merits in this case."
This is still the fallout from last year's fake "sting" videos against Planned Parenthood, which purported to show it was trafficking in fetal tissue for profit. Despite the fact that the videos were proved to be completely doctored and despite the fact that not a single investigation conducted by about a dozen states and by a congressional committee came up with a scrap of evidence against the organization—and despite the fact that neither of the Planned Parenthood affiliates in Kansas participate in fetal tissue donation at all—wack-job Gov. Sam Brownback decided that "the state would not fund an industry that disrespected life."
He's promising to keep up the litigation, which is going to cost the state who knows how many millions it cannot afford because he's bankrupted it. He's going to keep losing, too. Because federal law on this one is very clear: States can't pick and choose which providers get Medicaid based on anything other than outright fraud or patient safety.