Budget cuts are hitting Planned Parenthood. Update to this story.
Via NOLA Com:
Planned Parenthood Gulf States is keeping its options open when it comes to filing a lawsuit against Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration, which has said the health care provider will lose its Medicaid funding on Sept. 2.
Melissa Flournoy, the Louisiana state director of Planned Parenthood, declined to answer any other questions about possible litigation following a rally attended by 55 people outside the Governor’s Mansion on Thursday (Aug. 20). The rally focused on Jindal’s actions, as well as patients who depend on Planned Parenthood for medical care.
“We are certainly looking forward to Gov. Jindal changing his mind and federal law being followed,” said Raegan Carter, Planned Parenthood’s senior director for external services, when asked what the organization’s options are going forward. “The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services has said this is illegal for a state to defund a provider out of Medicaid.”
But asked whether the federal government would enforce that, Carter said, “I think them making sure it was known it was illegal, that is the first step of them doing something to enforce it.”
As questions about how federal law could be enforced persist, Planned Parenthood is positioning itself as increasingly confrontational with the Jindal administration. The rally Thursday was held as Jindal administration staff blasted audio from a controversial video over speakers pointed toward the rally. The videos were also projected onto a screen, but were difficult to see in sunlight.