AUSTIN, Texas — Planned Parenthood must be allowed to provide services under the Women’s Health Program while legal battles are fought, a three-judge panel of the appeals court decided Friday.

The panel’s decision reverses an emergency order imposed Monday that had given the state permission to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program, which provided cancer screenings and contraception services.

In a flurry of battles with the Obama administration and in the courts, Texas’ Republican leaders have tried to cut Planned Parenthood from the program.

Planned Parenthood is the health provider for 40 percent of the 130,000 poor and uninsured women in the program. None of the nine Planned Parenthood clinics involved in the Women’s Health Program perform abortions, but separate affiliates that share the name do so with private money. Under state and federal law, no public money can be used for abortions.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry and leading lawmakers believe that cutting off funding for all Planned Parenthood groups will help bring down the abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood health clinics sued the state, saying they meet all of the criteria for the Women’s Health Program. They argued they are being targeted although they have a constitutional right to associate with legally operating affiliates. The state has argued that it has the right to tailor its health programs to meet the needs and values of its citizens.

On Monday, a federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush ordered Texas to continue to include Planned Parenthood in the Women’s Health Program. The state appealed, and the lower court decision was almost immediately reversed by an emergency order from a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge.

But Friday, a three-judge panel of the same court rescinded the emergency order, reinstating the order that allowed Planned Parenthood to continue to participate. The court will expedite consideration of whether the injunction against the state should stand while the case proceeds.

“This case isn’t about Planned Parenthood . It’s about the women who rely on us for cancer screenings, birth control and annual exams,” said Sarah Wheat, interim chief executive of Planned Parenthood for the Texas Capital Region. “Our doors are open today and they’ll be open tomorrow.”

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission ackowledged in a written statement that the new order prohibits the state from excluding health centers that are affiliated with abortion providers.

 

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