Judge restores N.C. funds for Planned Parenthood
How much are these cases going to cost the people of NC after it’s all said and done? It’s the tea party creating jobs for lawyers I guess…
A federal judge on Friday ordered North Carolina to honor its contract with a Planned Parenthood affiliate, pending the outcome of a lawsuit the organization filed after the General Assembly cut off its funding.
U.S. District Judge James A. Beaty Jr. issued a preliminary injunction that found merit with Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina’s arguments that the ban on funding was unconstitutional on several grounds.
At issue is $212,000 that would have gone to the group’s clinics in Durham, Chapel Hill and Fayetteville to pay for contraceptives, teen pregnancy prevention programs and health services such as cancer screenings, pap smears, breast exams and diabetes tests for low-income women. The organization said staff would be laid off and many of those services would cease.
The Republican-controlled General Assembly included a provision in the state budget this summer prohibiting any state funding of Planned Parenthood. Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed the budget but the General Assembly overrode the veto.