Supreme Court Kills Arizona Law Defunding Planned Parenthood

Ben Johnson : Feb 25, 2014
LifeSiteNews.com

The law would have deemed abortionists not "qualified" to receive state tax dollars intended for family planning services.

(Washington, DC)—The Supreme Court yesterday, February 24, effectively killed an Arizona bill that would have denied Planned Parenthood any share of state Medicaid dollars, declining to hear an appeal from the state.

The law would have deemed abortionists not "qualified" to receive state tax dollars intended for family planning services.

Governor Jan Brewer signed the "Whole Woman's Healthcare Funding Prioritization Act" (H.B. 2800) in May 2012. The Obama administration filed a lawsuit challenging the law that October, arguing that the terms of federal law supersede state law.

U.S. District Judge Neil Wake issued an injunction, eventually striking the law down on February 11, 2013.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most overturned appeals courts in the nation, unanimously upheld the ban last August.

The Supreme Court this morning refused to intervene, allowing the panel's decision to stand.

"Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize the work of abortionists. Arizona should be free to enforce its public interest against the taxpayer funding of abortion and in favor of the best health care for women, which is what this law sought to do," Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Steven Aden said in a press release. "We are disappointed that the Supreme Court did not decide to weigh in on that principle. Arizonans deserve the best policies and laws possible to protect both their money and their health."