Is defunding Planned Parenthood unconstitutional?

Defunding Planned Parenthood is much in the news lately. Congressman want to do it. Candidates in the Republican primary for President want to do it. But is it constitutional?

David S. Cohen, professor of law at Drexel University, says it is unconstitutional. And this article makes sense to me. You might want to read it and think about it.

Why?

Doing this is a bill of attainder

What is a bill of attainder?

A bill of attainder (also known as an act of attainder or writ of attainder or bill of pains and penalties) is an act of a legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without a trial. As with attainder resulting from the normal judicial process, the effect of such a bill is to nullify the targeted person’s civil rights, most notably the right to own property (and thus pass it on to heirs), the right to a title of nobility, and, in at least the original usage, the right to life itself. Bills of attainder were passed in England between about 1300 and 1800 and resulted in the executions of a number of notable historical figures.

The use of these bills by Parliament eventually fell into disfavor due to the obvious potential for abuse and the violation of several legal principles, most importantly the separation of powers, the right to due process, and the precept that a law should address a particular form of behavior rather than a specific individual or group. For these reasons, bills of attainder are expressly banned by Article I, section 9, of the United States Constitution (1789) as well as by the constitutions of all 50 US states.

FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_attainder

What next?

Since several states have already defunded Planned Parenthood (or at least I’ve heard that claim), I suppose Planned Parenthood could file suit and get a judicial ruling on this.