Indiana official offers new option to keep Medicaid for Planned Parenthood

Jun 8 2011

Indianapolis Star: State Offers Way To Keep Medicaid Funds Flowing To Planned Parenthood
An attorney for the state of Indiana told a judge Monday that Planned Parenthood could still receive taxpayer funds -- even if it continues providing abortions. Thomas Fisher, the state's solicitor general, said Planned Parenthood would still be eligible for Medicaid funding if it spun off its abortion clinic into a separate corporate entity. But that option did not appear to sit well with supporters or opponents of Indiana's tough new anti-abortion law -- a law that was pitched as a way to defund abortion providers and is the first in the nation to end Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood (Gillers, 6/7).

WIBC (Indianapolis): Judge Hopes To Rule On Planned Parenthood Challenge Within Two Weeks
A federal judge says she'll try to rule within two weeks on whether Indiana can cut off Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood (Berman, 6/6). 

The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog: Federal Judge Reviews Controversial Indiana Law Blocking Abortion Funding
A federal judge today heard arguments in a case involving a controversial Indiana law that bans organizations, including Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds if they provide abortions (Koppel, 6/6).

Meanwhile, in Iowa, lawmakers are wrestling with legislation dealing with abortion.

Des Moines Register: House Resurrects Ban On Abortions After 20 Weeks
A proposal to prohibit women in Iowa from having abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy was resurrected Monday and will return to the House floor later this week. The issue has been one of the most contentious in this year's legislative session. It began after a similar law was enacted last year in Nebraska based on the idea that a fetus can feel pain at that stage of development (Clayworth, 6/7).