By: Corey Olson

One year after Texas banned most abortions in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, the state could bankrupt the largest abortion provider. Texas is suing Planned Parenthood for millions in Medicaid charges rung up after the organization was booted off of Medicaid. “Planned Parenthood was caught in an undercover operation a few years ago harvesting and selling body parts from babies that were aborted at their facilities,” says Dr. Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life. “They were eliminated from the state Medicaid program because they were engaged in fraud—selling the body parts.”

Planned Parenthood challenged their removal from Medicaid in court, but continued to bill the program while the case played out. Ultimately, the courts sided with Texas, but not before Planned Parenthood had charged some $17 million to the program. “They were fraudulently billing the state of Texas, milking them out of money for our tax dollars,” says Pojman. “The state of Texas deserves that back with penalties. This is according to federal law and state law.”

“Simply put, Planned Parenthood does not deserve that money, the state of Texas should get it back.”

In addition to the $17 million in actual Medicaid charges, Texas is seeking more than $1 billion in penalties, fines and punitive damages. A federal judge in North Texas heard arguments in the case last week. If the state wins the case, the future of Planned Parenthood in Texas is uncertain.

“We don’t know if the national office will try and keep Planned Parenthood alive, or whether the three affiliates in Texas will end up closing,” says Pojman. “At this point, we just don’t know.”

By: John Savage

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday filed a legal brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to overturn a ruling that blocked Texas from cutting off state Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood.
“Texas acted to cut off major taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood because of its repugnant conduct,” the brief states. “Clear indications of Planned Parenthood’s adjustment of abortion procedures to procure and sell fetal body parts for research should be enough to reverse a district court’s egregious ruling.”

By: SARAH TERZO

Texas Alliance for Life reported yesterday that this same abortion chain that is currently fighting before the Supreme Court to strike down a law on abortion safety regulations has a history of failed inspections, dirty equipment, untrained staff and other health violations. (Earlier this month, Live Action News reported on this discovery here and here.) These repeated health violations among the Whole Woman’s Health chain show that there is a pattern of serious mismanagement among these Texas facilities.