A federal judge has, once again, ordered the state of Louisiana to restore Planned Parenthood's Medicaid provider contract.
U.S. District Judge John deGravelles' order Thursday was an injunction that, in effect, extends a temporary order he issued last week protecting funding for 14 days.
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast and some of its clients had sued to block Gov. Bobby Jindal from cutting off Medicaid funding for cancer screenings, gynecology exams and other health services.
As you probably recall, the nearby state of Alabama was ordered to restore Planned Parenthood funding just two days ago.
These states cannot unilaterally cancel their Medicaid provider contracts with Planned Parenthood because Medicaid is a joint state and federal program with explicit governing rules that prohibit a state from discriminating against Medicaid providers.
You could say Louisiana has even less of a case against Planned Parenthood than most other states because Planned Parenthood clinics in Louisiana do not even provide abortions. Clinics in other states may participate in fetal tissue research programs which Republicans publicly object to, but clinics in Louisiana do not participate in any such program because they don't perform abortions.
Governor Bobby Jindal's nonsense won't hold up in a federal court room but he has vowed to continue fighting this war on women.
Jindal has vowed to challenge the judge's order in a federal appeals court. "We will appeal the decision to the 5th Circuit and we are confident that the court will reverse this ruling," his office said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood does not provide abortions in Louisiana, court records show.
