FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2016, file photo, Anne Morrice, center left, of Planned Parenthood and Chris Maxie, center right, of Planned Parenthood discuss legislation to defund Planned Parenthood with Columbus,... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2016, file photo, Anne Morrice, center left, of Planned Parenthood and Chris Maxie, center right, of Planned Parenthood discuss legislation to defund Planned Parenthood with Columbus, Ohio, residents Zahra Farah and Asha Abdulle at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. U.S.... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2016, file photo, Anne Morrice, center left, of Planned Parenthood and Chris Maxie, center right, of Planned Parenthood discuss legislation to defund Planned Parenthood with Columbus, Ohio, residents Zahra Farah and Asha Abdulle at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. U.S.... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2016, file photo, Anne Morrice, center left, of Planned Parenthood and Chris Maxie, center right, of Planned Parenthood discuss legislation to defund Planned Parenthood with Columbus,... (Associated Press) 
 
 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal judge blocked a state law aimed at diverting public money from Planned Parenthood, saying in a Friday ruling that the group stood to suffer "irreparable injury." 
 
 The Ohio law targets the more than $1.4 million in funding that Planned Parenthood gets through the state's health department. That money, mostly from the federal government, supports certain education and prevention programs. The law would bar such funds from going to entities that perform or promote abortions. 
 
 The restrictions, which had been slated to take effect in May, were signed by Republican Gov. John Kasich during his failed presidential bid. 
 
 The state's Republican attorney general will appeal the ruling, his spokesman said. 
 
 Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region had sued the state, saying the law violated their constitutional rights by denying them the funds "in retaliation for" providing abortions. Their lawsuit names the state's health director as a defendant. 
 
 U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett in Cincinnati sided with Planned Parenthood in granting a permanent injunction, which keeps state officials from enforcing the law's provisions. 
 
 Barrett, who was nominated to the bench by then-President George W. Bush, a Republican, said in many instances Planned Parenthood was chosen over other entities to receive the funds as part of a competitive grant process. He said if the changes were to take effect the group couldn't offer some free services and would no longer have access to the juvenile justice and foster care systems to teach teenagers about healthy relationships. 
 
 If not blocked, the judge wrote, Planned Parenthood would "suffer a continuing irreparable injury for which there is no adequate remedy at law." 
 
 The state's attorneys had argued that Planned Parenthood was trying to override state policy choices and that no entity has a constitutional right to receive public money. 
 
 "Planned Parenthood supplies no basis for disturbing Ohio's legislative judgments about how to spend its public money," attorneys wrote in a court brief. 
 
 Planned Parenthood has said Ohio's law would not force any of its 28 health centers in the state to close but the legislation would deprive thousands of patients of access to HIV tests, breast and cervical cancer screenings and other prevention and education initiatives. 
 
 The group's attorneys argued the law was unconstitutional because it required, as a condition of receiving government funds, that recipients abandon their constitutionally protected rights to free speech and to provide abortion services. 
 
 Planned Parenthood officials praised the judge's decision, calling it a win for Ohio residents who rely on the organization for care. 
 
 "Politicians have no business blocking patients from the care they need — and today the court stopped them in their tracks," said Iris Harvey, the head of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio. 
 
 Under the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, women have a constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus is able to survive outside the womb, generally around 24 weeks of pregnancy. 
 
 Planned Parenthood is a national target because of its role as the largest U.S. abortion provider. 
 
 Anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life, which lobbied in support of the funding changes, said the judge's ruling violates the state's rights and the conscience rights of taxpayers. 
 
 "It is the public policy of the state of Ohio to prefer childbirth over abortion, and we should be allowed to allocate funds accordingly," spokeswoman Katie Franklin said. 
 
 Federal law and the laws of most states already prevent public money from paying for abortions except in rare circumstances, but the recent defunding bills prohibit state money for any services by an organization that also provides abortions. 
 
 According to Planned Parenthood, politicians in 24 states have either enacted or proposed measures since last July that target the organization with defunding. In most of those states, the cuts haven't taken effect. 
 
 Planned Parenthood says that since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down tough abortion restrictions in Texas, courts have blocked laws there and in Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Kansas, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin. ||||| Play Facebook 
 
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 A federal judge blocked Ohio's attempt to strip non-abortion funding from Planned Parenthood, ruling on a preliminary basis that state authorities had overstepped with a new regulation blocking abortion providers from unrelated health funds. 
 
 At issue is about $1.5 million the state has granted Planned Parenthood's 28 health centers in Ohio. The funds go to several separate programs that, respectively, work on STD prevention, fighting HIV/AIDS in communities of color, sexual health education for young people, breast and cervical cancer prevention, infant mortality reduction and preventing sexual violence against women. 
 
 Related: Planned Parenthood Aims to Challenge Abortion Laws 
 
 None of the money goes to abortion services. But Ohio state authorities argued that they had a right to strip Planned Parenthood of the funds because it provides legal abortions, and that the state is entitled to express a preference for childbirth. 
 
 Federal district court judge Michael B. Barrett, a George W. Bush appointee, disagreed. "There is nothing within the scope of these programs related to performing abortions, promoting abortions or affiliating with an entity that performs or promotes abortions," he wrote. Under the constitution, he added, the state "cannot condition funding for these programs based on a recipient's exercise of the right to free speech or association outside of these programs." 
 
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 Barrett dismissed the state's argument that, for example, the funds were too entangled with abortion because the free STD testing happened "at the surgical center for patients receiving abortions.... However, [the state] does not explain how offering this test at the surgical center garbles or distorts Ohio's message. The STD testing is not related to the abortion services, nor is it a precursor to a discussion about abortion services. Instead, it is a medically separate service, which Plaintiffs code and allocate to ensure the funding is also separate from Plaintiffs' abortion services." 
 
 Opponents of abortion rights at the state and national level have often argued that money is fungible, so it doesn't matter whether public funds are actually going to abortion if Planned Parenthood also provides that service. Barrett rejected that argument. 
 
 Related: Trump: Planned Parenthood 'Does Some Very Good Work' 
 
 "The state of Ohio will be appealing this ruling," Lisa Peterson Hackley, a spokeswoman for Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine, told NBC News. 
 
 "Today's ruling supports the rights of all Ohioans to access needed health care," Iris E. Harvey, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, said in a statement. "This law would have been especially burdensome to communities of color and people with low income who already often have the least access to care — this law would have made a bad situation worse. Politicians have no business blocking patients from the care they need - and today the court stopped them in their tracks."
– An Ohio anti-abortion law signed by Gov. John Kasich during his presidential bid is unconstitutional and will do "irreparable injury" to Planned Parenthood and its patients, a federal judge ruled Friday The law effectively defunded Planned Parenthood by banning funds from the state's health department from going to any organization that provides abortions, NBC reports. But the funds in question weren't for abortion, but for programs including cancer screenings, STD prevention, reduction of infant mortality, and sexual health education. Ohio "cannot condition funding for these programs based on a recipient's exercise of the right to free speech or association outside of these programs," the judge ruled. "This law would have been especially burdensome to communities of color and people with low income who already often have the least access to care this law would have made a bad situation worse," Iris Harvey, President of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, said in a statement, per the AP . "Politicians have no business blocking patients from the care they need—and today the court stopped them in their tracks." Ohio says it plans to appeal the ruling made by US District Judge Michael Barrett, who was appointed by George W. Bush. (In June, the Supreme Court struck down Texas' tough restrictions on abortion clinics.)