Planned Parenthood class action sought

While Arkansas' solicitor general says he will appeal a federal judge's preliminary injunction preventing the state from cutting off Medicaid funding for three women who use Planned Parenthood services, the women are asking to expand their lawsuit to cover other "similarly situated" Medicaid patients in the state.

The court filings came in response to U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker's order Friday afternoon imposing the injunction just before a 14-day temporary restraining order was set to expire.

Baker said the preliminary injunction will remain in effect "until further notice." But she said it applied only to the three women who filed the lawsuit Sept. 11, along with Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, after Gov. Asa Hutchinson directed the state Department of Human Services in August to stop disbursing Medicaid funds to pay for the organization's services within 30 days. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland operates two clinics in the state, one in Little Rock and one in Fayetteville.

The women, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2 and Jane Doe 3 to protect their privacy, had told the judge the 30-day cutoff notice would begin to affect them Sept. 21 if she didn't intervene.

In a motion filed late Monday afternoon seeking class certification, attorneys for the women and the health care organization asked that the lawsuit proceed as a class action "on behalf of a class comprised of the Jane Doe plaintiffs and all other persons similarly situated, namely: patients who seek to obtain, or desire to obtain, health care services in Arkansas at PPH through the Medicaid program."

The motion argues that the judge should grant the request because the class is so large that it would be impractical for all members to join individually, because it focuses on questions of law or fact that are common to the class, because the plaintiffs' claims are typical of the class's claims, and because the parties will fairly protect the interests of the class.

"Because Plaintiffs' claims turn on a single question that uniformly applies to all class members, final injunctive and declaratory relief is appropriate for the class as a whole," argued attorneys Bettina Brownstein of Little Rock and Jennifer Sandman of New York.

The question is whether Hutchinson's directive violates federal law, which says Medicaid beneficiaries are entitled to seek family planning and preventive health services from the qualified Medicaid provider of their choice.

The Jane Does, like many of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland's other patients, are Medicaid beneficiaries who have chosen to receive the services from the organization, according to a supporting document, which notes that the organization provides services to "hundreds of men and women in Arkansas through the Medicaid program."

Hutchinson cut ties with the organization after the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress released edited clips of conversations with Planned Parenthood executives, doctors and staff members in other states discussing how much money the organization would receive for providing various fetal parts for medical research.

Critics accused Planned Parenthood of violating the law by selling the fetal material. The organization said it doesn't profit and only charges enough to pay for expenses, including shipping.

One in four of the approximately 4,000 patients served by the Planned Parenthood clinics in Arkansas in 2014 was covered by Medicaid, according to the affiliate's chief executive officer, Suzanna de Baca.

The request for class certification notes that in fiscal 2015, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland provided care to more than 500 Arkansas women, men and teens insured through Medicaid, a state and federal health-care program for the poor and disabled. In the previous fiscal year, it says, the organization saw more than 1,100 people covered by Medicaid.

The size of the proposed class is only one reason that all the organization's Medicaid patients should be joined in a class action, the motion states, noting that membership in the class "is not fixed, but changes over time, as new patients choose PPH as a provider, existing patients' Medicaid eligibility changes, and patients move."

Earlier Monday, Arkansas Solicitor General Lee P. Rudofsky filed a notice of appeal in Baker's court, saying the state intends to appeal the judge's ruling issuing the preliminary injunction to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

As of Tuesday evening, the state hadn't filed a response to the plaintiffs' request to have their case certified as a class action.

Metro on 10/07/2015

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