TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says he was following precedent in hiring a private law firm to defend the state’s denial of family planning funds to abortion providers.

In a statement Friday, Schmidt notes that previous attorneys general hired outside lawyers to represent the state in lawsuits over school finance and water issues.

The Wichita firm of Foulston Siefkin will defend Gov. Sam Brownback and the state’s top public health official in a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood over a state budget provision denying it $334,000 in federal planning money. Republican lawmakers say they supported the provision to prevent taxpayer-funded abortions.

Democrats have called the hiring of private lawyers a waste of tax dollars because the state has its own attorneys.