Deborah Yetter

Louisville Courier Journal

Unnamed sources pressured KentuckyOne to back out of the agreement, says Planned Parenthood's lawyer.

U of L Hospital says it won't turn patients away.

The Bevin administration is suing the organization accusing it of providing abortions without a license.

Citing "incredible" outside pressure, KentuckyOne Health has backed out of a contract to provide care at University of Louisville Hospital for any Planned Parenthood patient who might have unexpected complications from an abortion, according to a lawyer for the organization.

Thomas Clay, a lawyer for Planned Parenthood, said KentuckyOne Health President and CEO Ruth Brinkley notified his clients Tuesday that her company, which manages the hospital, was rescinding the contract because of pressure from unnamed sources.

The state says Planned Parenthood must have such a "transfer agreement" to obtain a license to provide abortions at its new clinic in downtown Louisville.

Planned Parenthood recently submitted an agreement identifying U of L Hospital as the provider to the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which licenses health facilities, Clay said. He said state officials refused to accept an agreement that didn't identify a specific hospital.

Brinkley, in a meeting with Planned Parenthood officials, also cited concerns about potential loss of public funds for the hospital and for U of L, which turned over management of the public hospital to KentuckyOne in 2012, Clay said.

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In a brief statement Wednesday, KentuckyOne spokeswoman Barbara Mackovic acknowledged the recent "contract transfer agreement" with Planned Parenthood had been terminated. But she added that would not stop the hospital from providing care to any patient in need of emergency treatment.

"University of Louisville Hospital is committed to delivering quality care, including urgent and emergency care, to all patients without discrimination," she said. "No patient will be turned away."

Mackovic did not respond to questions about the source of any outside pressure.

Clay, who represents Planned Parenthood in its legal battle with the administration of Gov. Matt Bevin over its license application for the abortion clinic, said he is outraged someone with clout would use backdoor tactics to gain an advantage in the dispute.

"They are engaged in surreptitious conduct obviously designed to thwart Planned Parenthood's goal of obtaining a license," he said. "It remains to be seen if those efforts will be successful."

Brinkley declined to say who had been putting pressure on KentuckyOne to rescind the agreement, Clay said.

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Derek Selznick, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, called the decision to rescind the transfer agreement "ridiculous."

"We fully support Planned Parenthood in these efforts," said Selznick, director of the ACLU's reproductive freedom project. "It's unfortunate that somebody's using a bully pulpit to interfere with medical decisions of the hospital."

KentuckyOne's majority owner is Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives. U of L's decision to enter the partnership in 2012 sparked concerns the Roman Catholic church's position against contraception and abortion might affect women's reproductive health services at U of L Hospital.

Clay said he's not sure that was a factor in this case.

"As far as I know, Catholic doctrine had nothing to do with cancellation of the contract," he said.

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But Beverly Glascock, a Louisville lawyer who questioned the public hospital's partnership with a private, Catholic entity, said it underscores her concerns. The deal went through only after KentuckyOne provided assurances it would not affect women's health services, she said.

"In rescinding its agreement with Planned Parenthood, KentuckyOne has done just what it promised this community it wouldn't do and has inappropriately placed an outside political agenda ahead of its community medical mission," Glascock said.

Clay said he is exploring all legal options in the matter, including seeking to find out who may have applied such pressure.

"I want to find out what the governor's involvement has been in this whole scenario," said Clay, who has accused Bevin of having a "personal vendetta" in the matter.

Steve Pitt, Bevin's general counsel, dismissed any suggestion that Bevin or his administration were involved.

"Planned Parenthood is making baseless and irresponsible accusations to distract from the undeniable fact that they performed unlicensed abortions without the essential agreements in place to protect women's health," Pitt said. "No one in this administration put any pressure on anyone."

Bevin, an anti-abortion Republican, has been an aggressive critic of Planned Parenthood, accusing it in a Jan. 29 press release of "brazenly" offering illegal abortions in Kentucky before it was licensed to do so. He identified himself as "an unapologetically pro-life individual."

The governor accused Planned Parenthood officials of acknowledging the organization had no legal authority to provide abortions at the Louisville clinic, a charge Planned Parenthood officials emphatically denied.

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Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky filed the application for the clinic license under the administration of Gov. Steve Beshear, a moderate Democrat who left office Dec. 7.

It began offering abortions in Louisville in December and said it did so under guidance of cabinet officials. Those officials had advised Planned Parenthood that its license application was complete and it must begin offering all services, including abortions, at the clinic so it could be inspected prior to issuance of a final license, the organization said.

But the Bevin administration said that advice was wrong and the clinic must be inspected before it could begin offering abortions. Further, the Bevin administration said the license application was deficient because it lacked an adequate "transfer agreement" with a hospital as well as an agreement with an ambulance service to transport any patients in need of hospital care, which it said endangered the health of patients.

Planned Parenthood officials suspended abortion services and were attempting to resolve the licensing dispute with the state when the cabinet filed a lawsuit against the organization Feb. 18 accusing it of providing abortions without a license and seeking $684,000 in fines.

Bevin announced the lawsuit in a press release, saying, "this administration will have no tolerance for this type of brazen disregard that Planned Parenthood has shown for both the safety of women and the rule of law."

Clay said Planned Parenthood is "exploring every legal option we've got" over the cancellation of the transfer agreement.

"University Hospital has reneged on this agreement," he said. "This was strictly a result of outside pressure."

Contact reporter Deborah Yetter at (502)582-4228 or at dyetter@courier-journal.com.

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