Planned Parenthood wants suit dismissed

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Planned Parenthood affiliates have asked the Missouri Court of Appeals to order the dismissal of a lawsuit over state funding for family planning.

Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri and Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region filed a petition in the Court of Appeals' Western District on Friday. The petition asks that Cole County Circuit Judge Byron Kinder be ordered to end the lawsuit.

The groups contend that Kinder should abide by Attorney General Jay Nixon's decision to dismiss the case after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Nixon had a conflict in the case.

"Under the Supreme Court's decision, Judge Kinder does not have the authority to further prolong this case," said Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. "We are asking the court of appeals to make that clear. It's time for this case to be over. It's time for us all to get back to the business of serving Missouri women and families."

Budget provision

At issue is a 1999 budget provision intended to withhold state family planning money from organizations that share a name, facility, expenses, employees or equipment with an affiliated abortion provider. The provision was aimed at Planned Parenthood.

Last month, Kinder appointed a university professor to sort out the legal issues raised by the Supreme Court over Nixon's defense of two different interpretations of the law -- one backed by the Legislature, the other by the state health director.

Kinder said he would rule on the case after James R. Devine, who teaches legal ethics and civil procedure at the University of Missouri Law School in Columbia, issued recommendations in the case. Kinder is not bound by the recommendations.

Kinder has twice ruled in favor of the state's authority to restrict funding to Planned Parenthood.

"This case should have never been filed," Brownlie said. "We are filing this petition to try to bring this sorry spectacle to an end."