Planned Parenthood to Challenge Bush Regulations

Planned Parenthood To Challenge Bush Regulations

(Hartford) Planned Parenthood of Connecticut (PPC) joined the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) in filing a lawsuit in federal court in Hartford today, challenging a regulation recently issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that will threaten the rights of patients to receive complete and accurate health care information.

The lawsuit, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood of Connecticut v. Leavitt, seeks to overturn the rule, issued in the final days of the Bush administration. In addition to the legal challenge brought by PPC and PPFA, the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office and the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, represented by the ACLU, have filed separate legal challenges.

“We are pleased to join our national organization, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the State of Connecticut, and our family planning colleagues in resisting the implementation of this rule, which puts ideology over common sense and vital health care and counseling,” said Judy Tabar, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Connecticut. “PPC is committed to ensuring that every patient who walks through our doors is given the information and reproductive health care services she or he requires.”

“The courts must strike down this unconscionable, unconstitutional last-minute midnight rule -- a final swipe by the Bush Administration at women’s health rights,” Attorney General Blumenthal said in announcing the State’s legal challenge.

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Planned Parenthood of Connecticut (PPC) is the state’s largest provider of family planning and reproductive health care services, with 18 health centers statewide, delivering basic preventive health care to nearly 62,000 women and men annually.