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Arkansas Asks Judge To Not Expand Planned Parenthood Case

Planned Parenthood
Jacob Kauffman
/
KUAR News

Arkansas officials are asking a federal judge to reject an effort to expand the lawsuit over the state terminating its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office on Thursday asked U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker to deny Planned Parenthood's request seeking class-action status for its lawsuit challenging the termination.

Baker earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction ordering Arkansas to pay for the services for the three unidentified plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Her decision allows the state to ban the funding in other circumstances.

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson terminated the contract in August over videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group. Planned Parenthood received $51,000 in Medicaid funds over the past fiscal year. None of the money paid for abortions.

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