Planned Parenthood sues South Dakota over abortion law

[cali]

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota | Fri May 27, 2011 12:08pm EDT

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood sued South Dakota on Friday over a law that imposes a 72-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions.

The law also requires women to get counseling from what Planned Parenthood calls an "anti-abortion" crisis pregnancy center. Planned Parenthood provides reproductive health services, including abortions.

"This law goes farther than any others in the country in intruding on the doctor-patient relationship, and putting women and families at risk," said Sarah Stoesz, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. The federal suit calls the law unconstitutional.

The South Dakota law is part of a wave of anti-abortion laws being passed in states with majority conservative legislatures as a result of the 2010 elections. Republican legislators tend to favor abortion restrictions.

Another law being challenged in court is an Indiana measure which cuts federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood of Indiana claims the law, the first of its kind in the country, puts Indiana at risk of losing its funding from the federal government for Medicaid, the health program for the poor.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/27/us-abortion-southdakota-lawsuit-idUSTRE74Q4MI20110527?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

[truebrit71]

1. Excellent!

No clue why S.Dakota hates women so much, maybe it's the mindless tedium of the prairies?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Glad to see our donations to PP so well spent. K&R

[Swede]

3. Democrats = Republicans

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. Texas says they'll take everyone's family planning funding away if Planned Parenthood sues.

If Planned Parenthood Sues We'll Take Everyone's Family Planning Money


The Texas legislature is quite literally holding poor women hostage in order to defund Planned Parenthood. The have now introduced a bill that will shut down the entirety of the state's low income women's health care and family planning program if Planned Parenthood or any other group that provides abortions sues and wins a ruling saying they should be a part of it.

The Houston Chronicle reports:

Texas lawmakers inserted a poison bill into a women's health program Tuesday in a move designed to ensure that groups like Planned Parenthood do not receive state funding.

Legislation that would renew a program to help poor women now has a provision that would shut it down immediately if a group that provides abortions files and wins a lawsuit to participate in the program. The Senate Health and Human Services approved the measure 5-1.

Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, said the move was necessary to make sure that no organization that provides abortions will receive any state money to provide any kind of health service.

"The legislature has clearly tried to cut off funding for these entities, only to have it restored by lawsuit," Deuell said. "We do not want this to happen again ... if abortion providers are able to sue and win — they have to win the suit — the program will cease to operate."

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2011/05/03/texas-legislature-planned-parenthood-sues-well-take-everyones-family-planning-money

Yep. That's what we're up against here in Texas.