GREENSBORO -- A Planned Parenthood affiliate sued in federal court Thursday to block enforcement of a provision in the new state budget that strips the organization of its funding in North Carolina.
The lawsuit by Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina cites several constitutional grounds for challenging the Republican-written provision, which prohibits the state Department of Health and Human Services from administering federal grants that go to the organization. The $212,000 at stake is used for family planning and teenage pregnancy prevention programs; none of the money is used for abortions.
Republicans were criticized for singling out the organization for political reasons, and that is one of the grounds of the lawsuit. It alleges a violation of the group's First Amendment right because it is being punished for providing abortions and supporting abortion rights.
The lawsuit also alleges violations of the due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution, and the bill of attainder clause, which prohibits legislatures from inflicting punishment on individuals or groups without benefit of a trial.
If the state blocks Planned Parenthood from receiving the federal money, the organization says its clinic in Durham would have to close, and a teen pregnancy prevention program in Fayetteville could not continue.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Greensboro because its Durham and Chapel Hill locations are in that jurisdiction.
The losers would be the thousands of women who turn to Planned Parenthood for pap smears, breast exams and tests for cancer and sexually transmitted infections, the suit says. Most of the women who use the clinics don't have health insurance, according to the organization.
"This budget may target Planned Parenthood, but the men, women and teens of North Carolina are the ultimate victims of this discriminatory legislation," the group's president, Janet Colm, said in a statement. "This is the first time in North Carolina's history that a single health care provider has been carved out in the budget and banned for applying for competitive grants from the state."
Republican leaders in the General Assembly declined to comment Thursday.
The hit on Planned Parenthood by North Carolina's Republican-controlled General Assembly follows similar anti-abortion legislative tactics across the country over the past several months. It began in February with U.S. Rep. Mike Pence's rider to a federal spending bill that would have barred Planned Parenthood and its affiliates from receiving any federal money. That amendment failed, but several states, including North Carolina, have since tried to de-fund Planned Parenthood and enact laws banning insurance coverage for abortions in state-run health exchanges.
Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, a Republican from Apex and House majority leader, said Thursday that he wouldn't comment on the lawsuit since he hadn't read it. "The attorney general will defend it," Stam said. "I'm sure he'll do a fine job."
Planned Parenthood has filed similar lawsuits in Indiana and Kansas over attempts to prevent nonprofits that provide abortions from receiving state funds. But local spokeswoman Paige Johnson said North Carolina's budget marks the first time a specific health-care provider has been singled out.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to impose a temporary injunction as soon as possible barring the state from withholding the federal money.
