Planned Parenthood in Louisville halts abortions
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Planned Parenthood temporarily has stopped offering abortion services at its new clinic in Louisville while it addresses objections the state raised Thursday about its license application for the facility.
But in a letter Friday to Kentucky officials, Planned Parenthood claimed the organization had the state's approval when it began offering abortion services Jan. 21 at the downtown clinic.
Abortion services began "only after receiving assurance from your office, in emails dated Dec. 1 and Dec. 7, that it would be appropriate while we await a survey," said Suzannah Wilson Overholt, chief operating officer for Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, or PPINK, said in a letter to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Under state licensing procedures, officials must conduct a survey, or inspection, of a health facility after it begins operation before issuing a license. Kentucky officials have not yet conducted that survey.
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News that Planned Parenthood had begun offering abortions for the first time in Kentucky touched off a political firestorm when PPINK announced it Thursday. The organization already offers abortion services in Indiana.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, an anti-abortion Republican who took office Dec. 8, accused Planned Parenthood on Thursday of "openly and knowingly operating an unlicensed abortion facility in clear violation of the law."
That same day, his administration ordered Planned Parenthood to "cease and desist" providing abortion services at the clinic, saying it had found two deficiencies in the license application it filed Nov. 19.
Planned Parenthood said Thursday it had applied for a license and "commenced services under the guidance of the Office of Inspector General, the cabinet office that is responsible for licensing health facilities."
The agency began offering abortions in Louisville about a month after moving into the new building.
Thursday's letter from Kentucky's acting inspector general, Stephanie Hold, said the state found two deficiencies in Planned Parenthood's license application. The letter said the new clinic lacked adequate written agreements with an acute care hospital and an ambulance service that are required in case a patient develops unforeseen complications.
Hold's letter said the agreements Planned Parenthood provided were out of date and missing some information.
The absence of those agreements "prevent us from continuing our review of your application at this time," the letter said. In the meantime, Planned Parenthood is directed to "cease and desist" offering any abortion services, the letter said.
Planned Parenthood, in Overholt's reply, said it will provide updated agreements "as soon as possible."
Friday's developments capped a week of activity in Frankfort and Louisville related to abortion.
The Courier-Journal reported Friday that Bevin's budget proposal would bar any state funds for Planned Parenthood clinics.
Betty Cockrum, president and CEO of PPINK, told the paper on Thursday that Planned Parenthood doesn't get any state money now.
The organization does bill Medicaid for services other than abortion such as medical exams, birth control and cancer screenings. Planned Parenthood won a federal court fight in 2013 with Indiana, which tried to bar the organization from receiving any Medicaid funds.
Federal law prohibits use of Medicaid funds for abortion services.
Planned Parenthood ended a contract with Louisville for family planning services on Dec. 31 and has received no local tax dollars since it began offering abortion services, The Courier-Journal reported Friday.