• Court delivers new blow to Planned Parenthood in Texas abortion battle

    By Reuters

    AUSTIN, Texas - A U.S. appeals court judge on Tuesday issued an emergency stay of a ruling that prevented the state from excluding Planned Parenthood from a health program for low-income women because the organization performs abortions.


    The stay, issued by Judge Jerry Smith of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, reversed a lower court ruling Monday in favor of the family planning organization. The decision means the state is free for now to enforce a new rule banning Planned Parenthood from the Texas Women's Health Program, state officials said.

    The Associated Press reported that Smith gave eight Planned Parenthood organizations involved in a lawsuit until 5 p.m. Tuesday to present arguments.

    "At this point, Planned Parenthood is not an eligible provider in the Women's Health Program," Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said Tuesday.

    The Women's Health Program, which is part of the federal-state Medicaid program, provides cancer screenings, birth control and other health services to more than 100,000 low-income women.

    It does not pay for abortions or allow abortion providers to participate in the program. The new state rule bans program money from going to affiliates of abortion providers. State law has included that ban on affiliates since the program began in 2007, but the state did not enforce it.

    Judge: Texas can't ban Planned Parenthood from health program

    The Planned Parenthood groups sued, and on Monday, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel temporarily blocked the state rule pending trial, citing "the potential for immediate loss of access to necessary medical services by several thousand Texas women."

    Planned Parenthood had told Yeakel that the health care of 40,000 women would be disrupted unless he blocked the rule.

    But lawyers for the state said that Planned Parenthood's mission was contrary to a program goal of reducing abortions and that the program would end if Planned Parenthood remains in it.

    Texas notified the federal government last year of its intent to begin enforcing the ban, effectively excluding Planned Parenthood from the program.

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    President Barack Obama's administration has said it will not renew funding for the Texas program because the state was violating federal law by restricting the freedom to choose providers.

    The state is suing over that decision. The federal government pays 90 percent of the $33-million-a-year program.

    Msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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  • Judge: Texas can't ban Planned Parenthood from health program

    NBC's Andrea Mitchell talks with Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, about the latest piece of legislation out of Texas that would block funding for the state's Planned Parenthood centers.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    A federal judge on Monday blocked a Texas rule that would have excluded Planned Parenthood from participating in the state's women's health program.

    In a win for Planned Parenthood, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled Monday there was sufficient evidence the state rule barring Planned Parenthood is unconstitutional. He imposed a temporary injunction against enforcing it until he can hear full arguments.


    The rule forbids state agencies from providing funds to an organization affiliated with abortion providers. It was set to go into effect on Tuesday.

    In response to the new rule, eight Planned Parenthood clinics that don't provide abortions sued the state. The clinics say the law unconstitutionally restricts their freedom of speech and association.

    In granting the preliminary injunction, Planned Parenthood can continue to serve women, and getting reimbursed by the state, according to the Austin Statesman.

    "The court is particularly influenced by the potential for immediate loss of access to necessary medical services by several thousand Texas women," Yeakel said in a 24-page ruling.

    The preliminary injunction is a big win for Planned Parenthood, which has been under siege in several states by abortion opponents. In the past year alone, states including Wisconsin, North Carolina, Tennessee and Indiana, in addition to Texas, have all moved to block Planned Parenthood from receiving taxpayer money.

    "For many women, we are the only doctor's visit they will have this year," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. "This ruling affirms what women have known all along: politics simply doesn't have a place in women's health."

    The state Health and Human Services Commission will comply with the order and will work with the state attorney general to determine its next steps, spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said.

    "We remain confident that federal law gives states the right to establish criteria for Medicaid providers," Goodman said.

    Texas Governor Rick Perry and some Republican lawmakers have said they would rather eliminate the women's healthcare program entirely than direct money to Planned Parenthood clinics.

    The Texas program, which is part of the federal-state Medicaid program, provides cancer screenings, birth control and other health services to more than 100,000 low-income women.

    The program does not pay for abortions or allow abortion providers to participate in the program. The new Texas state rule would ban program money from going to affiliates of abortion providers.

    State law has included that ban on affiliates since the program began in 2007, but the state did not enforce it. Texas notified the federal government last year that it intended to begin enforcing the ban, effectively excluding Planned Parenthood from the program.
    According to Planned Parenthood, about 49 percent of the women who received services through the program in 2010 obtained some services through a Planned Parenthood provider. Planned Parenthood said it would lose about $13.5 million of annual funding for preventive care and family planning if the rule is applied, forcing it to close clinics and lay off staff.

    Texas has already made deep cuts in other family-planning programs. As a result, state subsidies that once provided low-cost birth control to 220,000 women a year now cover fewer than 60,000 women a year.

    The federal government pays for 90 percent of the cost of the Texas Women's Health Program, which serves low-income women of reproductive age who do not qualify for regular Medicaid coverage. Texas puts up just $4 million a year.

    Critics object to Planned Parenthood receiving taxpayer money, which cannot be used to provide abortions, arguing that a steady stream of government grants provide an indirect subsidy by helping pay utility bills and keep doctors on staff.

    Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider, terminating about 330,000 pregnancies a year.

    It gets about a third of its revenue -- $360 million in 2009 -- from government grants to provide birth control, gynecological exams and care for sexually transmitted diseases to low-income women.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Seeing double? Number of twins in U.S. spikes

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    By Linda Carroll

    The number of twins born to American women has risen dramatically over the past three decades, a new government study shows.

    The twin birth rate rose 76 percent from 1980 through 2009, according to report from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention that was released Wednesday. While 189 out of every 10,000 births was a twin delivery in 1980, in 2009, 333 out of 10,000 births involved twins.

    Put another way, in 2009 one in every 30 babies born in the United States was a twin, as compared to one in every 53 babies born in 1980.

    Researchers  say that the uptick in twin births is due to both the increased use of infertility treatments and the tendency for women to delay child-birth till they are older.

    The increase in twin births is concerning, said the study’s lead author Joyce A. Martin, an epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

    “It’s really important to note that outcome for twins is much less positive than for singleton pregnancies,” Martin said. “Twins tend to be born earlier and smaller.. Their mothers are more likely to require hospitalization. And the twins themselves are more likely than singletons to require hospitalization."

    But, Martin added, “although they are at greater risk overall, most twin births do very well.”

    The rate of twinning isn’t the same all over the country. In New Mexico, for example, 223 out of 10,000 births were twin deliveries. But in Connecticut the number was far higher: 459 out of 10,000 births.  

    The increases seen by Martin and her colleagues also varied by race and ethnic group. The biggest increase in twins was among white non-Hispanic mothers. For them, the rate of twins doubled over the past three decades.

    Interestingly, black women have had a higher rate of twinning all along. Nobody knows why this is, but experts assume it’s mostly explained by genes, just as the tendency to twin seems to run in certain families, said Dr. Joseph Sanfilippo, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and director of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

    It’s clear that there are big variations in women’s tendency to have twins, Sanfilippo said. That can be due to genetics and environment. Rates vary widely from country to country, Sanfilippo said. Yoruba has the highest rate with 450 to 500 sets of twins per 10,000, he added.  

    The big increases Martin and her colleagues have seen in the U.S. in white non-Hispanic women have almost caught them up with black women.

    While the rise in the rate of twins occurred in every age group, the biggest surges were in women 30 and older. From 1980 to 2009, the rate of twins increased 76 percent among women aged 30 to 34 and nearly 100 percent for women aged 35 to 39. Among women aged 40 and older the rate surged more than 200 percent, the Martin and her colleagues reported. 

    Nobody knows exactly why older women are more prone to twinning, Sanfilippo said. But the most likely explanation is that older women have older eggs.

    While these older eggs still have DNA that is intact enough to produce a healthy baby, the mechanisms that allow the fertilized egg to grow and divide may be somewhat compromised and this is what may lead to more twinning.

    “The egg is the orchestra leader,” Sanfilippo explained. “If it’s been sitting around in the ovaries for 35 to 40 years it doesn’t work as well. Certainly not as well as one that is just 25 years old.”

    Ultimately older moms are only responsible for one third of the increase in twins, Martin said. The rest of the surge is due to increasing use of infertility therapies like in vitro fertilization.

    And that’s something that doctors and patients can control. These days more and more infertility centers are choosing to put only one embryo back into a woman’s uterus during IVF, hoping to stem the surge in multiple births.

    The hope, Sanfilippo said, is that this will lead to healthier moms and babies.

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