Judge blocks DeWine from suing Planned Parenthood

COLUMBUS — A federal judge blocked Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's plan to sue Planned Parenthood over improperly disposing of aborted fetuses – for now.

U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus granted Planned Parenthood a 28-day temporary restraining order Monday, saying the requirement that aborted fetuses be disposed of in a "humane" way might be too vague. DeWine's lawsuit could harm Planned Parenthood and restrict women's constitutional right to abortions, he found.

DeWine announced Friday that Planned Parenthood clinics in Cincinnati and Columbus contracted with Marietta-based Accu Medical Waste Services to heat tissue to kill bacteria and dispose of the remains in a Kentucky landfill. He called the practice inhumane and GOP lawmakers agreed, promising to make abortion providers bury or cremate remains instead.

Lawmakers want aborted fetuses cremated, buried

But Cincinnati attorney Al Gerhardstein, whose firm filed the lawsuit for Planned Parenthood, said Planned Parenthood has been disposing of aborted fetuses in line with Ohio's laws and regulations for 40 years. DeWine was the one changing the definitions, Gerhardstein said.

"On Friday, the Ohio attorney general announced a whole new set of rules. He said that even though, for 40 years, we all knew how fetal tissue should be disposed, he was going to change the rules and rush to state court and sue Planned Parenthood," Gerhardstein said.

DeWine planned to sue Planned Parenthood clinics in state court Monday, preventing them from disposing of fetal remains. But on Sunday, Planned Parenthood attorneys sued the Ohio Department of Health and DeWine's office in federal court first.

Ohio Planned Parenthood sues to 'protect abortion access'

Assistant attorney general Ara Mekhjian argued that the Ohio Department of Health hadn't changed its definition of "humane," it was simply enforcing them.

"There's certainly been no change in the conduct of the Ohio Department of Health," said Mekhjian, adding that Planned Parenthood could not prove abortions would be stalled if DeWine filed his lawsuit.

But Sargus disagreed, extending a temporary restraining order for 28 days. The next hearing will be Jan. 5.

"We're back to business as usual," Gerhardstein said. "And that's good because the women of this state deserve better treatment, and Planned Parenthood should not be singled out when every other medical hospital, every other gynecologist and obstetrician, everybody's got this issue."