Planned Parenthood announced Monday it is suing Texas for trying to block it from getting Medicaid reimbursements.
Texas is one of several Republican-led states to block public funds from Planned Parenthood after a series of undercover videos showed that some clinics run by the women’s health and abortion provider provided aborted fetal tissue for medical research.
Texas is the fifth state Planned Parenthood is taking to court over the issue. The group also has sued Alabama, Arkansas, Utah and Louisiana, which have tried the same maneuver. In the past, two federal courts have said states can’t block specific health providers from seeing Medicaid patients if they meet all the critera for a qualified provider.
“This is illegal and a violation of federal law,” Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said Monday.
Under the order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Planned Parenthood no longer would receive state funding for health services such as pregnancy tests, contraception and cancer screenings. The order also would end federal dollars awarded through Medicaid. Texas spends about $310,000 in state dollars annually on Planned Parenthood while distributing about $2.8 million in federal dollars.
A few months after the undercover videos from anti-abortion investigator David Daleiden surfaced, Planned Parenthood banned its clinics from receiving any further compensation for the fetal tissue. But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from arguing the group should no longer get taxpayer dollars.
Planned Parenthood’s biggest center in Texas, the Houston-based Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, was featured prominantely in the undercover footage. Daleiden obtained tapes of top officials there discussing the process of obtaining the tissue and providing it to biomedical companies.
