A federal appeals court says it won't reconsider a panel's ruling that Arkansas can block Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, two years after the state ended its contract with the organization over videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday denied a request by three Planned Parenthood Great Plains patients to reconsider a three-judge panel's decision upholding the state's defunding decision. The panel in August vacated a federal judge's preliminary injunction that prevented Arkansas from suspending Medicaid payments for services rendered to patients in the state.
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson ended the state's Medicaid contract with the group in 2015. Planned Parenthood said a review by the full court was needed because the panel's ruling conflicts with four other appeals court decisions.
