Federal court lifts injunction against Arkansas mandate that blocks funding for Planned Parenthood

A federal appeals court has lifted an injunction against Arkansas' order that blocks Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood.

On Wednesday, an Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted 2–1 to lift the preliminary injunction that prevented Arkansas from suspending any Medicaid payments for services rendered to patients from Planned Parenthood.

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson sought to defund the abortion giant in 2015 after pro-life activists released a series of undercover videos that purported to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the harvesting of aborted baby body parts.

The defunding order was challenged in court and blocked through an injunction by a lower court. Three Arkansas patients filed a lawsuit against the state, saying it violated the federal right to choose a qualified Medicaid provider, Washington Examiner reported.

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker initially ordered the state to continue the payments to the three patients, and it later expanded the order to apply to anyone who wanted to obtain Planned Parenthood's services in the state.

However, the Eighth Circuit ruled on Wednesday that the patients did not have the federal right to challenge the defunding order.

"Under the Jane Doe's vision, while the provider is litigating its qualifications in the state courts, or after the provider unsuccessfully appeals a determination that it is not qualified, individual patients separately could litigate or relitigate the qualifications of the provider in federal court," the court stated, according to The Stream.

Planned Parenthood's Great Plains affiliate, which includes Arkansas, has indicated that it may challenge Wednesday's ruling.

"This is not over," said local Planned Parenthood leader Raegan McDonald-Mosley in a statement. "We will do everything in our power to protect our patients' access to birth control cancer screenings, and other lifesaving care," she added.

Arkansas has stated that a total of $51,000 in Medicaid funds have been received by Planned Parenthood in the fiscal year before Hutchinson's decision to terminate the contract.

Several other states have attempted to defund Planned Parenthood, but courts have blocked many of the lawsuits. In a dissenting opinion to the ruling, Judge Michael Melloy pointed out that several other appeals courts have ruled the opposite way on defunding the abortion chain.

Lawmakers have also tried to defund the organization at the federal level, but the effort stalled in Congress after the defeat of the legislation to repeal Obamacare in the Senate.

Planned Parenthood, which performs more than 300,000 abortions each year, receives approximately half a billion taxpayer dollars annually.