Judge bars Texas’ clinic defunding

AUSTIN, Texas— A federal judge on Thursday blocked Texas from ousting Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program over secretly recorded videos taken by anti- abortion activists in 2015.

The decision by U. S. District Judge Sam Sparks adds Texas to the list of Republicancontrolled states that have been thwarted in efforts to cut off Medicaid funding to the nation’s largest abortion provider. Sparks said the videos amounted to “baloney” in regard to the funding issue. He postponed Planned Parenthood’s ouster until Feb. 21. Planned Parenthood would have lost the funding on Saturday had Sparks not intervened.

Other federal courts have similarly stopped Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Kansas, which all cited heavily edited videos that claimed to show Planned Parenthood officials seeking profits from sales of fetal tissue for medical research. Planned Parenthood has denied wrongdoing, and investigations in 13 states didn’t result in criminal charges.

Planned Parenthood says it provides nonabortion services to about 11,000 low- income women in Texas each year through Medicaid.