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Show Will clinic keep funds? The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday heard arguments argu-ments from the State of Utah, asking the court to overturn the ruling of a federal judge who stripped the state of its family planning funds. Lawyers for the attorney general's office asked the Denver appellate panel to overturn the ruling by Judge David K. Winder, who had ruled in favor of the Park City Community ' Clinic and the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah. The two had successfully challenged chal-lenged the state law requiring parental consent before any state-funded state-funded agency can dispense contraceptives contra-ceptives or birth control information to unemancipated minors. In a nearly unprecedented move, the Department of Health and Human Services had stripped the two family planning agencies of their direct federal grants under Title X and awarded it as a block grant to the State Health Department. The two agencies sued, saying the state was violating congressional intent of the Title X legislation by requiring parents' permission. Winder Win-der agreed, and stripped the State Health Department of its funding. Park City Community Clinic Director Diana Maxell in a telephone interview from Denver said she was confident the court would uphold Winder's ruling. "It just makes me mad because this appeal is a waste of j the taxpayers' money," she said. |