Ohio Planned Parenthood Facility Wins Preliminary Injunction

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has granted a Cincinnati, Ohio Planned Parenthood ambulatory surgical facility (ASF) a preliminary injunction in an enforcement action that would have shut the facility down (Planned Parenthood Sw. Ohio Region v. Hodges, S.D. Ohio, No. 1:15-cv-568, 10/13/15).  Under Ohio law, ASFs must be licensed (ORC §3702.30).  An ASF must also have a transfer agreement with a local hospital (ORC §3702.303), to manage medical complications and emergencies, but may apply to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Director for a variance waiver.  Southwest Ohio Planned Parenthood (PPSO) had received a variance in 2014, and applied to renew its license and variance in May 2015.  The variance application was denied, and PPSO reapplied for the variance on September 28th.  However, an amendment to ORC §3702.304, and the new ORC §3702.309, took effect September 29th, requiring the ODH Director to act on a variance request within 60 days, and automatically suspending the license of an ASF if its variance application was denied.  The new statute does not provide a pre-suspension hearing procedure.  PPSO sought a preliminary injunction on the basis that enforcement would violate its due process rights.  In granting the injunction, the court ruled PPSO was likely to succeed on its claim, and noted public interest favored preserving the status quo while the case proceeded.