by Eleanor Dearman and John Reynolds, The Texas Tribune
The Big Conversation
In the latest development in the standoff between the state government and Planned Parenthood over the future of its involvement in the Medicaid program, the women’s health provider filed suit on Monday to stay in the program.
The move by the state to cut the group off entirely from Medicaid dollars comes after a series of undercover videos were released earlier this year by an an anti-abortion group that showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the donation of fetal tissue.
The Tribune’s Alexa Ura and Edgar Walters wrote
in their coverage of Monday’s legal action, “The state’s move wouldn’t just end state funding for Planned Parenthood services like pregnancy tests, contraception and cancer screenings. It would also end the allocation of federal dollars to Planned Parenthood through Medicaid, the joint state-federal insurer of last resort that is administered by Texas. In 2015, Texas spent $310,000 of its own money on the women’s health organization while distributing $2.8 million in federal dollars.
“Republican state leaders have long worked to cut taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions at some of its Texas clinics — but none that receive state or federal dollars.”
Ura and Walters note that Planned Parenthood affiliates in Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas have all initiated legal action to keep access to Medicaid dollars and that federal health officials have previously warned Texas that kicking Planned Parenthood out of the Medicaid program could violate federal law.
Disclosure: Planned Parenthood was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune in 2011. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed
here.