INDIANAPOLIS —The battle over whether to block government dollars from going to Planned Parenthood has now shifted into court, with an initial decision expected to come today.
Gov. Mitch Daniels signed into law Tuesday a measure that would block the agency and others that perform abortions from receiving any government dollars.
Immediately, Planned Parenthood of Indiana and the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana responded with a lawsuit seeking an injunction to bar the law from being enforced.
The timing is critical, because the bill Daniels signed into law takes effect right away.
Betty Cockrum, the president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, said the agency will continue to treat Medicaid patients at its 28 Indiana facilities this morning.
U.S. District Judge Tonya Walton Pratt is expected to rule by about noon EDT on whether to block the new law from taking effect. If she does not do so, Cockrum said, the agency has not yet decided what would come next.
The two sides agreed that they are arguing over about $1.5 million per year. It also puts Indiana at risk of losing as much as $4 million per year in federal family planning grants, though whether that would happen is not yet clear.
In practical terms, the new law would require the 400 Medicaid patients who used Planned Parenthood last year to find new places to receive reproductive care.
That care includes birth control, cancer screenings and testing for sexually transmitted disease.
Federal dollars that flow through the state do not cover abortions, although those who have pushed to defund Planned Parenthood say it comes too close to intermingling.
"Family-planning dollars fund preventive health services that are critical to low-income and vulnerable women and their families," said Ken Falk, ACLU of Indiana legal director.
"It is unlawful, unnecessary and cruel to deny these populations health services that they desperately need."
The measure was not part of Daniels' legislative agenda this year. It was backed by Republican lawmakers who followed the course sought at the federal level by U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, the man on course to become their next gubernatorial nominee.
Daniels, who is often criticized by social conservatives because he called for a "truce" on social issues, said he decided to give the measure his OK after being assured that other clinics near the Planned Parenthood locations could provide Medicaid patients with similar care.
"It wasn't my proposal, but the things said about it I researched first, and they're not true," he said Tuesday.
"No one is going to lose access to health care."
If Indiana does block all government dollars from going to Planned Parenthood, it would become the first state to do so.