Texas Just Made A Huge Move Against Planned Parenthood

Texas is leading the way in protecting the unborn.

The state requires clinics that kill babies to meet the standards of outpatient surgical centers, and abortionists must have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. The law also bars abortion after 20 weeks and places restrictions on medically induced abortions.

Before these requirements, Texas had over 40 abortion clinics. At most, 10 remain. After some legal wrangling, a federal court last summer upheld the pro-life law.

Texas has gone a huge step further. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s inspector general has filed a notice to bar state Medicaid funds — taxpayers’ money — from going to Planned Parenthood. From the Federalist:

The letter states that the termination of Planned Parenthood’s enrollment in the Texas Medicaid program is due to multiple health and legal violations committed by the nation’s largest abortion provider, many of which were brought to light by a series of undercover videos from the Center for Medical Progress, or CMP.
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The inspector general also cited Planned Parenthood’s history of fraud as a reason for terminating the group’s participation in the state’s Medicaid program. In the past, the abortion provider has over-billed the government for services, including abortions, when it wasn’t allowed to do so. In 2013, the Obama administration’s Department of Justice found that Planned Parenthood significantly over-billed the Texas Medicaid program, and the abortion provider eventually paid $4.3 million in a settlement.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to hear an appeal filed by abortion mills in the state. The Center for Medical Progress has played a big role in the renewed calls to defund Planned Parenthood. Republican-controlled state legislatures can get things done. National Republicans apparently can’t.

Photo credit: Nathan Boltseridge (Creative Commons) – Some Rights Reserved