Appeals court asked to review Planned Parenthood defunding

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Three Planned Parenthood patients are asking an appeals court for a review after a panel of federal judges ruled that Arkansas can block Medicaid funding to the organization.

The three Planned Parenthood Great Plains patients asked the full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday to reconsider the three-judge panel’s decision. The panel on Aug. 16 vacated a federal judge’s preliminary injunction that prevented Arkansas from suspending Medicaid payments for services rendered to patients in the state.

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson ended the state’s Medicaid contract with the organization in 2015 over videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group.

Planned Parenthood said a review by the full court is needed because the panel’s ruling conflicts with four other appeals court decisions.