Planned Parenthood is suing Ohio, claiming it reinterpreted a fetal tissue disposal rule without notifying anyone and specifically to target Planned Parenthood.
The organization says in a federal lawsuit filed today that the Ohio Department of Health denied it equal protection and due process, according to Associated Press.
Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Friday that an investigation he started this summer found no evidence that Ohio Planned Parenthood affiliates donated fetal tissue for medical research. But he said Planned Parenthood disposed of fetal remains in landfills and that he’ll seek an injunction Monday to stop the practice.
The agency calls the claim “inflammatory.” And President Stephanie Kight told AP the tissue went to a facility licensed for medical material, not a regular landfill.
The lawsuit says Planned Parenthood has complied with health department policy to dispose of the fetal tissue in humane ways and has never been cited. It says the state provided no notice of problems until Friday.
It says the sudden action by the state is an attempt to shut down legal abortions in Ohio. Anti-abortion state lawmakers plan to announce new legislation Monday.
