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The decision by
U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan III is the latest in a string
of rulings striking down similar laws elsewhere in the country
against the women's health provider.
Jordan's two page order noted a ruling from the 5th U.S.
District Court of Appeals that rejected a similar law in
Louisiana, saying "essentially every court to consider similar
laws has found that they violate" federal law.
Medicaid is a health insurance program for the poor run jointly
by the federal government and individual states.
Planned Parenthood said in its complaint that the law, which
went into effect in July, unconstitutionally limited patients'
rights to choose the healthcare provider of their choice and
would have stopped it from serving low-income patients.
"Yet another court has said it is unacceptable for politicians
to dictate where women can go for their health care," Planned
Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards said
in a statement. "Planned Parenthood will fight for our patients
at every turn."
Mississippi's Republican Governor, Phil Bryant, expressed
disappointment with the ruling, saying in a statement on
Facebook: "I believe the law was the right thing to do and I
will continue to stand with the legislature and people of
Mississippi who do not want their hard-earned money going to the
largest abortion provider in the nation."
Mississippi was among many states adopting new abortion laws as
conservatives have sought to chip away at the U.S. Supreme
Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
In August, a federal judge prevented Ohio from cutting federal
taxpayer funding from 28 Planned Parenthood clinics in the
state, setting back the governor's hopes of stopping the women's
health services group from providing abortions.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Simon
Cameron-Moore)
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