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A Wisconsin law that requires abortion providers to get admitting privileges at nearby hospitals is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court panel ruled Monday. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel's 2-1 decision doesn't put the question to rest. Nearly a dozen states have imposed similar requirements on abortion providers, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to hear a challenge to Texas' law in a case that could settle the issue nationally. (Richmond, 11/23)

A Wisconsin law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday, addressing a topic the U.S. Supreme Court is considering during its current term. Abortion providers in Wisconsin had challenged the state law, which requires doctors to have privileges at a hospital within 30 miles (50 km). The law's supporters said the measure ensures continuity of care while opponents say it serves almost no public health value and is intended to shut clinics. (Bailey, 11/23)

None of the obstacles Texas placed in her way were going to keep Veronica from driving 125 miles to her appointment at Whole Woman's Health clinic Friday. With her 3-year-old and 1-year-old in tow, she was determined to get an abortion. The state didn't make it easy. There used to be a clinic 50 miles away in Corpus Christi. But Texas — which she likens to a "big bully" — is more than halfway to its goal of reducing from 44 to 10 the number of licensed clinics in the nation's second-largest state. ... Texas' abortion law — which the Supreme Court this month agreed to review early next year — unquestionably has made abortions harder to come by. (Wolf, 11/23)

Planned Parenthood, other women's health providers and a group of women in need of reproductive healthcare sued Texas on Monday, seeking to halt its threatened cut in Medicaid funding, a move they said was more about politics than healthcare. The suit filed in federal court in Austin comes as Texas and several other Republican-controlled states try to cut funding for Planned Parenthood after an anti-abortion group released videos it said showed Planned Parenthood officials negotiating prices for fetal tissues from abortions it performs. (Herskovitz, 11/23)

Planned Parenthood sued again Monday over efforts by Republican governors to block Medicaid funding to the nation's largest abortion provider, this time against Texas, where the organization says health care access to 13,500 women is on the line. Federal courts have so far halted similar attempts in Arkansas, Louisiana and Alabama while lawsuits play out. Texas plans to kick Planned Parenthood out of the state's Medicaid program by Dec. 8. (Weber, 11/23)

The nonprofit organization’s lawsuit alleges that Texas violated federal law and the so-called Medicaid freedom of choice provision, which allows those enrolled in Medicaid to seek services from a qualified provider of their choice. The lawsuit also accuses Texas officials of singling out Planned Parenthood for “unfavorable treatment without adequate justification,” a violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. (Fernandez, 11/23)

Planned Parenthood and 10 of its patients sued the state of Texas on Monday to block officials from cutting off Medicaid funds, calling the state’s actions political and part of a long-term pattern of denying reproductive healthcare to women. “Women in Texas today have fewer rights than they did when I was growing up, and less access to healthcare,” Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards told reporters when announcing the lawsuit. “This time, they're targeting some of the most vulnerable Texans — women who already have the least access to healthcare in the country.” ... A spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office declined to comment Monday, saying officials have yet to be served with the lawsuit. (La Ganga, 11/23)

en patients joined Planned Parenthood in the lawsuit, according to the organization. Kendra Hudson of Houston, a patient spokeswoman, said a pap smear she got at a Planned Parenthood clinic allowed her to identify an abnormal growth and prevent it from developing into cancer. "They were the provider that I trusted and felt comfortable with," Hudson told reporters on Monday. By cutting off Medicaid funding to the women’s health organization, Planned Parenthood argues that thousands of other women could lose access to similar services they couldn't get elsewhere. (Ura and Walters, 11/23)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services contacted Texas officials last month to tell them their move to exclude Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program “may be in conflict with federal law.” “Longstanding Medicaid laws prohibit states from restricting individuals who have coverage through Medicaid from receiving care from a qualified provider,” said Marissa Padilla, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a statement last month. “By restricting which provider a woman could choose to receive care from, women could lose access to critical preventive care, such as cancer screenings.” (Martin, 11/23)