States continue push to keep federal money from Planned Parenthood

Also in the news, a national abortion rights organization has filed suit in Texas to block the implementation of a new state law requiring women have pre-abortion sonograms.

CQ HealthBeat: States Ramp Up Drive To Defund Planned Parenthood
States are continuing to move to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funds in an unprecedented wave of action against the organization led by Republican state lawmakers attempting to crack down on abortion services. Some of the action, though, is now shifting to the courts. In Kansas, a law took effect Friday that prevents Planned Parenthood from receiving Title X state-federal family planning funds. Planned Parenthood has filed suit against GOP Gov. Sam Brownback and the Kansas secretary of health and environment and is seeking a preliminary injunction. A hearing is scheduled for July 8 (Norman, 7/1).

Houston Chronicle: Group Sues To Stop Texas' Pre-Abortion Sonograms
A national abortion rights group has filed suit in federal court to stop implementation of a new Texas law that requires women seeking an abortion to undergo a sonogram and have details of the fetal image explained to them. Claiming the amendment to the state's Woman's Right To Know Act is unconstitutionally vague and violates physicians' freedom of speech, the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights filed the motion for a preliminary injunction in Austin Thursday (Turner, 7/2).