Lies, deceit, secret phones calls and hidden agendas were all behind a Texas judge blocking the state from cutting Medicaid dollars to Planned Parenthood. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin made the ruling on Tuesday after weeks of investigation.
“A secretly recorded video, fake names, a grand jury indictment, congressional investigations — these are the building blocks of a best-selling novel rather than a case concerning the interplay of federal and state authority through the Medicaid program,” Sparks wrote, referring to the secretly recorded Planned Parenthood videos taken by anti-abortion activists in 2015
“Yet, rather than a villain plotting to take over the world, the subject of this case is the State of Texas’s efforts to expel a group of health care providers from a social health care program for families and individuals with limited resources.”
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Texas now becomes the sixth state to allow state Medicaid funds to go the organization that provides affordable healthcare —including cancer screenings and birth control— to women and men.
As noted by AP, appeals to the decision in Texas are already in process, as anti-abortion politicians and activists feel that Planned Parenthood “manipulated the timing of abortions to benefit researchers.”
There’s also been well reported push back from President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and newly confirmed health secretary, Tom Price who hope to cut off federal funding. In January Trump banned U.S. funding to international groups that perform abortions or even provide information about abortions.
Planned Parenthood serves 2.8 million people through their affiliate health centers in the U.S.