A lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court seeks to void the latest bid by anti-abortion lawmakers to defund Planned Parenthood in Arizona.

State and federal law already prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars to perform elective abortions. But Planned Parenthood also gets Medicaid funds to provide other family planning services to eligible patients. Abortion foes contend those dollars effectively underwrite abortions, helping to pay fixed costs like staffing and utilities.

A 2012 law to deny family planning funds to any organization that also provides abortions was overturned by a federal appeals court. A new version tries a different tack: Providers can be denied family planning money if they don't segregate abortion dollars to the satisfaction of the director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid program.

Attorney Jennifer Lee of the American Civil Liberties Union said this new law is as illegal as the first. "This law has the same effect in that it imposes a requirement that will cause the abortion providers to be excluded from the Medicaid at the discretion of AHCCCS," she said. "So it operates differently from the 2012 law but the effect is the same and the intent of the law is the same."

Aides to Gov. Doug Ducey, an abortion foe himself, insist the law is justified to protect taxpayer dollars and will be upheld. Challengers want a hearing before the law takes effect on Aug. 6.