U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson in Kansas City, Kan., issued the temporary ruling in a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri and the organization’s St. Louis regional affiliate.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment planned to cut off funding by Thursday for health services offered at Planned Parenthood facilities, such as exams and cancer screenings, for poor patients receiving health coverage through Medicaid, a government health insurance program for people with low incomes or who are disabled. Medicaid funds do not cover abortions.
Planned Parenthood received roughly $56,000 in calendar year 2014 and about $38,000 in 2015 for services such as annual exams, birth control, preventive care and breast exams, according to the state health department.
Gov. Sam Brownback promised to defund Planned Parenthood in his State of the State address. Eileen Hawley, spokeswoman for governor, said in an email that Brownback’s office would review the ruling and move forward with litigation.
“The Governor will continue the fight to make Kansas a pro-life state,” Hawley said in the email.
