AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas attorney general has appealed a federal judge's order stopping the state from banning Planned Parenthood clinics from a women's health program.
Attorney General Greg Abbott filed the notice of appeal just hours after U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel said Texas could not ban clinics affiliated with abortion providers from receiving state funds.
Yeakel's injunction said the eight independent Planned Parenthood clinics had provided sufficient evidence to stop the law because it imposes unconstitutional limits on the freedom of association of health care providers. Yeakel said he would hold a full trial and offer a final decision afterward.
No state funding goes to organizations that provide abortions. This law took the additional step of not allowing legally separate clinics from affiliating with abortion providers.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.