A Federal Judge Just Gave an Epic Defense of Planned Parenthood That Everyone Should Read

[kpete]

US District Judge John W. deGravelles issued a restraining order against the DHH's move late Sunday. The order will remain in place for at least two weeks while the judge makes a final ruling on the case. However, in his opinion, deGravelles was outspoken in his support of Planned Parenthood. He wrote that the DHH attack on the organization was baseless:

The uncontradicted evidence in the record at this time is that PPGC does not perform abortions in Louisiana, is not involved in the sale of fetal tissue and none of the conduct in question occurred at the PPGC's two Louisiana facilities. Based on the record before it, it appears likely that Plaintiff will be able to prove that the attempted termination against it are motived and driven, at least in large part, by reasons unrelated to its competence and unique to it.

He also disputed a common Republican argument (which former Mother Jones reporter Molly Redden debunked last month) that closing Planned Parenthood won't burden its patients, who would have access to other reproductive health providers in the area. According to deGravelles, defunding Planned Parenthood would leave thousands of women without options:

(The Court) turns to the uncontested and unquestioned facts—PPGC serves 5,200 poor and needy women, and PPGC has repeatedly been deemed a 'competent' provider by DHH—and honors the public interest in affording these women access to their provider of choice...For decades, PPGC has served numerous at-risk individuals and helped DHH combat a host of diseases, and, in the process, become the regular provider of over 5,000 women.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/10/planned-parenthood-abortion-louisiana-jindal-medicaid

[Angry Dragon]

1. kick

[KT2000]

2. Very good!

a clear response to the horrendous efforts to deny women medical care.

[secondwind]

3. HUGE K & R !!

[hifiguy]

4. The spirit of the great Judge Frank Johnson lives on.

(Yes I know Judge Johnson was a federal judge in Arkansas).

Frank Minis Johnson, Jr. (October 30, 1918 – July 23, 1999) was a United States Federal judge, serving 1955 to 1999 at the District and Appeals Court levels. He made landmark civil rights rulings that helped end segregation and disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South. In the words of journalist and historian Bill Moyers, Judge Johnson "altered forever the face of the South."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Minis_Johnson

[Stargazer99]

5. Only proves my point the conservtive Republican is the cause of more human misery

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[Fred Sanders]

7. PP lies are exposed by a legal proceeding where the sober law and evidence where examined?

When will the media also admit the lies about Bengazhi are simply being repeated by the GOP in the PP smear and the EGazhi smear.....that the GOP is a literal trainwreck of a party that is only held together by lies?

Not admitting it can mean only one thing.

[bjobotts]

8. PP prevents 345,000 abortions per yr. Here's how

from Nicholas Kristoff’s article in NYT “…This in a country where half of all pregnancies are unintended, where 30 percent of American teenage girls become pregnant by age 19.

The Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive health, calculates that Title X family planning centers (PP) prevent about one million unintended pregnancies a year, of which 345,000 would have ended in abortion. It says that every year Title X clinics (PP) avert some 53,000 cases of chlamydia and 8,800 cases of gonorrhea, and save the lives of 1,100 women who would otherwise die of cervical cancer.

In other words, Title X prevents an abortion about once every 90 seconds...."
This should be shoved in the faces of all those ignorant or misinformed senators who voted to defund Planned Parenthood as they have no idea how much good this organization does. They want to end abortions and then try to defund the only organization that prevents them.

[Wounded Bear]

10. I don't doubt your facts or quotes...

but a hard link would boost credibility.

I'm all on board with support for PP, up to and including on-demand abortion consistant with current federal laws-meaning Roe v Wade, and other rulings on the issue.

The forced-birthers can pound sand in my book, and go back to their medieval enclaves. There are far too many women who are underserved because of religious zealotry and bigotry in our country.

[passiveporcupine]

11. Let me be the one who does the shoving in the face!

This should be shoved in the faces of all those ignorant or misinformed senators who voted to defund Planned Parenthood as they have no idea how much good this organization does. They want to end abortions and then try to defund the only organization that prevents them.

That might be very cathartic.

[dae]

9. Jindal is a pathetic pos who would say or do anything to become

POTUS. Every decision he's made as governor of Louisiana is based on how it plays to the lowest of the GOP.

[DhhD]

12. In 322 U.S. Counties, PP serves 50% or more of the low-income women

who get birth control through government-funded clinics, which actually lowers the need for abortion.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/20/planned-parenthood-defund-texas

snip
Planned Parenthood received $450m in funds from the federal government in 2013 – 41% of its total operating budget for the year. Of that money, $390m came from Medicaid reimbursements for birth control consultations, STD tests, pap exams and other services provided to low-income women (and men). The other $60m came from grants through the Title X national family planning program, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
more at link

link contains several U.S. maps with information.

[Enthusiast]

13. Kicked and recommended!

[marym625]

14. Kicking, tweeting, screaming from the rooftops!

[hamsterjill]

15. I might like this judge!!!

Good for Judge deGravelles for being brave enough to say this!

[niyad]

16. k and r