LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas is asking a judge to deny a bid to continue blocking the state's efforts to terminate its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood over videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group.
The attorney general's office Wednesday asked U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker to deny Planned Parenthood's motion for a preliminary injunction preventing the defunding move. Baker's order allowing the funding to continue is set to expire late Friday afternoon.
The filing said that if Baker does issue an injunction, it should be limited to the three unnamed women named as plaintiffs in the case.
The state says Planned Parenthood received more than $51,000 in Medicaid payments in Arkansas over the past fiscal year for family planning and gynecological services. None of the money went toward abortions.