According to figures provided by Texas health officials, the state’s retooled family-planning programs reached 317,393 women in the 2014 fiscal year, almost as many as the 320,044 the state served in fiscal 2010, before it cut off funding to Planned Parenthood.
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Planned Parenthood, which has been plagued by controversy for months thanks to a deceptive video campaign accusing the organization of selling aborted fetal tissue, is fighting back in court.
The Texas government’s blitz on women’s health hit a snag on Monday, when Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit against state officials for kicking the organization out of the Texas Medicaid program without just cause. The OIG also contends PP engaged in Medicaid fraud, but have provided no concrete evidence.
The cutoff hasn’t happened yet, but when and if it does, Planned Parenthood will not receive any of the federal money it now gets for well-woman care in Texas.
The complainants, who also said that Texas’ move was more of a political rather than a health care issue, stated in the lawsuit the state will ban patients from selecting their preferred medical facility without enough justification. But the Planned Parenthood situation is high on the university system’s list of urgent problems. This category of privileges had been granted to the doctor working with the Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, and had allowed the clinic to renew abortion services for the first time since 2012. The Office of Inspector General of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission notified Planned Parenthood South Texas that it was cutting of the funding through what’s called Notices of Termination. Federal law provides that an abortion clinic may only be “reimbursed” for costs incurred in providing this tissue. “Each of these allegations is false”, the lawsuit states, later explaining how the allegations are based on doctored videos published by a radical anti-abortion group.
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains is one of the affiliates featured in undercover videos released by the pro-life Center for Medical Progress. A congressional hearing revealed that Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood’s national president, draws a salary of almost $600,000 – well above the median salary for other nonprofit presidents.
Federal health officials, though, have said Texas’ actions may be illegal.
Breitbart Texas reported that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld on June 9th the strict abortion clinic restrictions passed into law by the Texas legislature.
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Planned Parenthood says it provides, for example, extended hours to accommodate women who have ‘inflexible work schedules, childcare obligations, transportation challenges, and lack of childcare resources. Thursday was the last day for in-patient abortions, Planned Parenthood confirmed.
