A federal judge who ruled to remove the Ten Commandments monument at the Alabama Supreme Court in 2003 has cancelled the move by the state to defund Planned Parenthood, the organisation that provides women's healthcare and abortion services in the US.
Judge Myron Thompson issued a decision on Wednesday that the Medicaid contract between the State of Alabama and Planned Parenthood should be restored as it would affect women's choices in selecting organisations that provide reproductive health services.
"To conclude otherwise would not only strip the Medicaid Act's free-choice-of-provider provision of all meaning, but also would contravene clear congressional intent to give Medicaid beneficiaries the right to receive covered services from any qualified and willing provider," said Thompson in his decision, according to the Christian News Network.
In 2003, Thompson ordered the removal of the Ten Commandments monument at the Alabama Supreme Court, which was placed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley sent a letter to Planned Parenthood Southeast last August, informing the organisation that the Alabama Medicaid office was voiding its contract with the abortion provider.
The state had reimbursed Planned Parenthood for over $4,000 for birth control and STD testings in the past year.
Bentley said he respects "human life, and I do not want Alabama to be associated with an organisation that does not."
Referring to the undercover videos of the Center for Medical Progress, he said, "The deplorable practices at Planned Parenthood have been exposed to Americans. I've terminated any association with the organisation in AL."
Planned Parenthood Southeast countered that Alabama could not defund it and filed a lawsuit against the state.
"Unfortunately, we find ourselves in court once again with state officials who are hell-bent on ending a woman's ability to make her own deeply personal and private health care decisions," said President Staci Fox.
She added, "Only this time, instead of going after safe and legal abortion as he has each of the past four years, now Governor Bentley is trying to dictate where a woman can go for contraception and other preventive care if she's enrolled in Medicaid."
Bentley said he will appeal the court decision.
"I am disappointed, and vehemently disagree with the court's ruling today. We are reviewing the opinion and will determine the next legal steps within the appeal period," he said. "The good news is that as a result of the strong opposition by Alabama and a few other states to the practice of accepting reimbursement for harvesting foetal organs, the national Planned Parenthood organisation has changed course and will no longer continue this deplorable practice."
