KY GOVERNOR

Bevin sues Planned Parenthood over abortions

Deborah Yetter
Louisville Courier Journal

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Gov. Matt Bevin announced on Thursday that the state has filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, alleging it violated state law by performing abortions without a license at its new facility in Louisville.

The lawsuit is the latest development in the clash between Bevin and Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, or PPINK, which has said it was operating under instructions of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services when it began offering abortions in December at its new clinic in downtown Louisville.

Planned Parenthood had not previously offered abortions in Kentucky.

But the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Jefferson Circuit Court, claims that the organization's actions were illegal and asks that Planned Parenthood be fined up to $684,000 for the alleged violations. The lawsuit alleges that 23 abortions were performed unlawfully from Dec. 3 through Jan. 28.

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"Planned Parenthood should be required to pay fines in the maximum amount allowed by law in order to punish it for its callous and knowing violations of law and to deter it and others from such violations in the future," said a press release issued by Bevin announcing the lawsuit.

But Planned Parenthood rejected Bevin's claims on Thursday, saying it had fully complied with instructions from the cabinet's Office of Inspector General by opening the new clinic and beginning to offer abortions as part of the state's standard licensure procedure.

"We ask that the executive branch continue the licensure process rather than continue to make politically motivated accusations," said a statement released by PPINK.

Last month, the organization vehemently rejected Bevin's claim that they "were openly and knowingly operating an unlicensed abortion facility."

"We in no way, shape or form would contemplate offering abortion procedures in anything but a legal environment," Betty Cockrum, president and CEO of  PPINK, said.

The organization has suspended all abortions while it tries to resolve its dispute with the Bevin administration about its effort to obtain a license for the Seventh Street clinic, which replaced its former site on Second Street.

The lawsuit, signed by Bevin general counsel M.Stephen Pitt, has been assigned to Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry.

Planned Parenthood's license application for the new clinic was filed last year under the administration of Bevin’s predecessor, former Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat. But it had not received the license when it began offering abortions.

Planned Parenthood said cabinet officials directed it to begin providing all its reproductive health services including abortions so the clinic could be inspected prior to final issuance of a license. The inspection was not scheduled because it is supposed to be unannounced.

Planned Parenthood has released emails and other communications with cabinet officials in support of its claim.

But the lawsuit claims Planned Parenthood tried to rush the license application through the cabinet in the final days of the Beshear administration, believing it would be more sympathetic than the incoming governor, a Republican and outspoken opponent of abortion.

It further accuses Maryellen Mynear, the cabinet's former Inspector General, of trying to aid Planned Parenthood in a "scheme to accelerate the licensure process."

The lawsuit alleges Planned Parenthood attempted to push the license application through "while Planned Parenthood still had someone in the cabinet who was willing to ignore or overlook the law."

Mynear, a lawyer, now works for Attorney General Andy Beshear, son of the former governor. Terry Sebastian, the attorney general's spokesman, said the office had no comment about the lawsuit.

The Bevin administration has said the Planned Parenthood license application was deficient because the organization lacked proper agreements with a local hospital and ambulance service in case a patient needed to be transported to a hospital.

Such agreements are required as part of the license application. The Bevin administration has said the agreements Planned Parenthood provided were incomplete and inadequate.

As a result, patients could have been put at risk, the lawsuit said.

Planned Parenthood said it will resubmit updated agreements as part of its application.

And Planned Parenthood officials have said that in seeking the license, they were simply following the timetable they established as part of moving into the new clinic in December.

In a recent interview, Planned Parenthood officials Cockrum and Kim Greene, the incoming board chairman, said adding abortion services has been a long-term goal of the organization, which also provides family planning services, cancer screenings and other medical care.

Contact reporter Deborah Yetter at 502-582-4228 or at dyetter@courier-journal.com.