OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -
Planned Parenthood is suing the head of the Oklahoma Department of
Health over the agency's decision to withdraw federal funding for three
clinics in the Tulsa area that provide food and nutritional counseling
to low-income mothers.
Planned Parenthood of the
Heartland filed its lawsuit in federal court on Friday against Terry
Cline, Oklahoma's Commissioner of Health.
Health department officials
declined to comment on the lawsuit, but have said previously the
decision to terminate the Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, contracts
was based in part on Planned Parenthood's cost per participant
exceeding those of other clinics.
Planned Parenthood alleges
in its lawsuit that the health department has given a "hodgepodge of
reasons" for ending the contracts, but that none of those reasons are
supported by facts.
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