According to news sources, yesterday U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker expanded a previous ruling regarding the State of Arkansas, Planned Parenthood, and Medicaid tax dollars.
You may recall last year Governor Hutchinson ordered the State of Arkansas to sever ties with Planned Parenthood after a series of videos emerged showing Planned Parenthood officials discuss the harvest and sale of organs from aborted babies. Governor Hutchinson’s decision effectively barred Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements from Arkansas.
In response, three Planned Parenthood patients sued the state. Judge Kristine Baker ruled the state had to provide Medicaid dollars for those three women. This week she expanded that ruling to apply to all of Planned Parenthood’s patients in Arkansas.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office is appealing this lawsuit to a higher court, saying, “[Judge Baker’s] order unfortunately allows Planned Parenthood to continue to use its patients to pad its bottom line at taxpayers’ expense. Thankfully, the ultimate issues in this case will be decided by the Court of Appeals.”
Other Lawsuits in Judge Baker’s Court
This is not the first time we have talked about one of Judge Kristine Baker’s rulings. Judge Baker also presided over Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit regarding Act 577 of 2015.
The law requires doctors performing drug-induced abortions to follow FDA protocols when administer abortion drugs like RU-486. It also requires abortion clinics to have an agreement with a physician who has admitting privileges at a local hospital in case complications arise from the abortion.
In response, Planned Parenthood sued the State of Arkansas. Last spring U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker issued a preliminary injunction preventing the state from enforcing this pro-life law. Attorney General Rutledge’s office appealed the injunction, asking a higher court to reverse it and let the state enforce Act 577.
In 2014 U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker also struck down the Arkansas Marriage Amendment, which Arkansans overwhelmingly supported in 2004.