Indiana, Planned Parenthood in court on Medicaid funding; Wis. bill to prohibit abortion in private insurance

Oct 22 2011

Several stories about attempts on the state level to limit insurance coverage of abortions.

Indianapolis Star: State To Appellate Court: Allow Planned Parenthood Defunding
Lawyers for the state tried for a second time Thursday to convince a federal court that Indiana's law defunding Planned Parenthood should go into effect immediately and not be delayed until after a judge rules on a lawsuit challenging the law. ... Planned Parenthood is arguing that the legislature's April vote to cut off Medicaid funding to providers that offer abortions runs afoul of federal Medicaid law, which forbids the state from picking and choosing where Medicaid patients can receive services (Gillers, 10/21).

The Associated Press: Indiana, Planned Parenthood In Court Over Funding
Planned Parenthood of Indiana can end a dispute over a law that would cut some of its public funding if it became two separate entities, with one offering abortion services and the other offering general health services, an attorney for the state told a federal appeals court Thursday. Solicitor General Thomas Fisher said during oral arguments before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that Indiana's new law is aimed at keeping taxpayer dollars "from indirectly subsidizing abortions" (Callahan, 10/20). 

The Associated Press/MSNBC: Wisconsin Senate Passes Bill Limiting Abortion Funding
The Wisconsin state Senate today passed a Republican bill to ban abortion coverage from policies obtained through a health insurance exchange that is to begin in 2014 under last year's landmark federal health care law. Democratic opponents argued the move was designed create confusion about the intent of how health care reform will operate in Wisconsin and infringed on the rights of private health insurance providers to offer whatever services they wish (Bauer, 10/20).