April 12, 2012
Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday to
block a rule excluding their health centers from a key program for
low-income women, the latest round in a protracted skirmish between the
state and federal governments.
Jennifer Bard, a Texas Tech law professor and director of the university's health
law program, said
the court will have to decide if the state's decision not to provide
funding to organizations whose affiliates use separate funds for
abortion is the same “as punishing an individual for belonging to a
group of which the government does not approve.”