After more than two years of wrangling in court, the State of Arkansas has officially cut Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood.

In 2015 Governor Hutchinson ordered the state to quit providing Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood clinics after a series of undercover videos showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of organs and tissue harvested from aborted babies.

Following a lengthy lawsuit, a federal panel of judges ruled last August that the state has the power to cut Medicaid funds to abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood appealed that decision to the entire federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier this month the Eighth Circuit said it would let that panel’s good ruling from August stand.

Last week the Eighth Circuit’s decision became final, letting Arkansas officially cut Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood.

This is a major pro-life victory.

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading abortion provider, and the Medicaid funding it receives from the government helps keep Planned Parenthood in business. Nobody should have to subsidize abortion providers with their tax dollars.

Governor Hutchinson and Attorney General Rutledge have worked hard to ensure the State of Arkansas doesn’t give any money to abortion providers. I am glad Arkansas has a governor who will stand up to the abortion industry — and an attorney general who will defend the right to life in court.

Photo Credit: By Brian Turner (Flickr: My Trusty Gavel) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.