Planned Parenthood Indiana Seeks Injunction Against Defunding Law

Judge Tanya Walton Pratt (left) may rule today on Planned Parenthood’s injunction request.

Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of Federal District Court is expected to rule today on Planned Parenthood of Indiana’s request for an injunction and temporary restraining order on Indiana’s new law that cuts off about $3 million in public funds used to pay for birth control, cancer screening and tests for sexually transmitted disease.

Fort Wayne’s The Journal Gazette reports that about 30 supporters of Planned Parenthood of Indiana rallied Monday night, chanting ‘Mister, Mister, get your hands off my sister.’ Many motorists honked in support, and a few gave the the protesters ‘the finger’.

Holding a sign that said “Pro Faith, Pro Medicine, Pro Planned Parenthood,” Kathryn “Katie” Carboneau, a Fort Wayne physician, said there was never any evidence to back up the medical information being disseminated by legislators.

“Not one medical person was asked (by legislators) to vouch for the accuracy of the information they were receiving,” Carboneau said. “We’re all in trouble when government starts intruding in patient-doctor relationships.

85,030 patients in Indiana used Planned Parenthood during the fiscal year 2010. Of those, 74 percent were at or below 150 percent of the poverty line.

Update

on 2011-05-11 19:28 by Anne

Federal Judge Tanya Walton Pratt refused to issue a temporary order blocking the new Indiana law.

The case is Planned Parenthood of Indiana Inc. v. Commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health, 1:11-cv- 630, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis) and it will now move forward in the court system and perhaps to the US Supreme Court.