An Ohio federal appeals court blocked a 2016 law depriving Planned Parenthood of federal funds. The law was intended to punish the agency for providing abortions, but the judges ruled unanimously that Planned Parenthood provided many other services and was unfairly a target for supporting abortion rights with its own funds. Judge Helene White cited the U.S. Supreme Court decision of 2013 that held that under that it was unconstitutional to require some organizations, but not others, to have a policy opposing sex work. (Constitutional Law Prof Blog, April 19, 2018, by Ruthann Robson)
The judge said the Ohio law violated Planned Parenthood’s due process rights by forcing it to stop providing legal abortions so they can be funded for programs that have no relation to abortion. (Reuters, April 18, 2018, by Nate Raymond)