LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – A federal judge has temporarily blocked Arkansas from prohibiting Medicaid payments for Planned Parenthood patients, expanding her order that forced the state to continue paying for three patients.
U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction preventing the state from suspending any Medicaid payments for any patients who receive services from Planned Parenthood. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson ended the state’s Medicaid contract with the organization last year because of videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group.
Baker last year ordered the state to continue payments for three patients who had sued over the move. Planned Parenthood asked her to expand the order to anyone who seeks or want to obtain services from the organization’s health centers in Arkansas.
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