Ind. to rebut feds in Planned Parenthood case

INDIANAPOLIS — The state of Indiana has until noon Friday to respond to the Obama administration's decision siding with Planned Parenthood of Indiana in an attempt to block the state's new abortion funding law.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt granted the state's request for a week to respond to a Justice Department brief filed June 16. That brief supported Planned Parenthood's request for an injunction blocking a new state law that bars it from receiving Medicaid payments for general health services such as cancer screens.

Planned Parenthood stopped seeing Medicaid patients this week after private donations that had paid those patients' bills ran out.

Pratt gave Planned Parenthood until 6 p.m. Friday to file its own response to the expected state brief.