Judge keeps Planned Parenthood out of Women's Health Program

By Peggy Fikac and Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje
Updated 11:23 p.m., Tuesday, May 1, 2012

My San Antonio.Com:

AUSTIN — Texas barred Planned Parenthood from a key women's health program Tuesday after a federal appeals judge halted an order that the organization be allowed to continue participating in the program at least temporarily.

Planned Parenthood is fighting the appellate judge's action and said its affiliates will keep serving low-income clients who are part of the Medicaid Women's Health Program, even though Texas Health and Human Services Commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said they can no longer bill the state for program services.

It was the latest twist in a battle sparked by Texas' decision to exclude clinics from the program if they're affiliated with abortion providers, even if the clinics themselves don't offer abortions.

The decision notably affects Planned Parenthood, which sued the state over the matter in April, saying the exclusion violated its constitutional rights.

U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel on Monday granted a preliminary injunction to require the state to keep Planned Parenthood in the program until he makes a decision on the merits of the case.

But Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency stay of the injunction, which was granted by Judge Jerry E. Smith.

The attorney general's office pressed the argument that Texas would have to shut down the program if forced to give taxpayer money to “entities that affiliate with abortion-promoting entities” because to do otherwise would violate state law.

The state's exclusion of Planned Parenthood already has prompted the federal government to begin phasing out its funding for the program. Texas officials have said they'll run it with state money alone so they can exclude Planned Parenthood.

Smith granted the stay “pending further order of this court” and asked for a response from Planned Parenthood, which among other points said there is no reason for the state to shut down the program if the group participates.

The legal roller coaster is cause for concern for the program's clients, nearly 130,000 low-income women who receive health-screening and contraceptive services.

Rosa Rodriguez, 28, of San Antonio has received cancer screenings and contraception through the program at a local Planned Parenthood facility for eight years.

The single mother of two young children said breast and cervical cancer run in her family — and she said she's angry that her health care has become part of a game of political brinksmanship.

“The government doesn't tell guys, ‘Well, you can only go to this clinic or get these services,'” Rodriguez said. “They leave guys alone. This is about sexism, if you ask me. I thought we had our women's movement to go beyond this sort of thing.”

Rodriguez said she wants to “stay at the clinic where I'm comfortable.”

Goodman, of the Health and Human Services Commission, said “very few people ... truly have the freedom to select any doctor,” citing restrictions in private health coverage and saying Medicaid clients are limited to doctors approved by the state who take part in the program.

“There are no equivalent men's programs because we don't have any Medicaid coverage for men in the same situation. The Women's Health Program is for low-income women who wouldn't qualify for Medicaid unless they were pregnant. We don't have any special coverage like that for men,” Goodman said.

The phone number for women who need help finding a new provider is 800-335-8957.

Planned Parenthood affiliates said they will continue to provide services to Women's Health Program clients, though Goodman said that as of Tuesday, “abortion providers and affiliates aren't eligible to bill the state” for those program services.

Jeffrey Hons, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Trust of South Texas, said that “during this time of legal back and forth, Planned Parenthood stands strong and solid, and we will continue to provide Texas women the health care they need.”

Until further notice, Planned Parenthood health centers in San Antonio, Kingsville, Harlingen and Brownsville will operate and service clients as though the program is active for the group, he said.

Seth Chandler, a University of Houston health law professor, called Smith's granting of the emergency motion “highly unusual.”

“It's difficult to understand why a single judge would stay a preliminary injunction without getting other judges involved and without hearing from Planned Parenthood,” Chandler said. “It's possible that he could change the ruling after reading Planned Parenthood's brief, but that's a lot of agitation to put people through when he could have just waited a day.”

Chandler said Smith has previously written that emergency stays should only be granted in extraordinary circumstances, such as an abuse of discretion, not merely because a judge thinks the original ruling was a mistake.

He added that it's hard to conceive of the current situation as constituting an emergency, given that the program has been in effect for years.