State sued in abortion battle

Planned Parenthood seeks to have Medicaid funding restored

AUSTIN — Planned Parenthood on Monday sued Texas for kicking it out of the state’s Medicaid program, launching what is likely to be another protracted legal fight over Republican leaders’ ongoing attempts to choke off all public funding from the nonprofit as part of their fight against abortion.

The women’s health organization and 10 unnamed patients filed a federal lawsuit Monday seeking to get a judge to force the state to continue honoring about $3 million in annual reimbursements for birth control, STD testing and other Medicaid services for about 13,500 Texans.

“These politicians are telling women where they can and cannot go for health care,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a conference call. “That’s illegal and a violation of federal law.”

Jeffrey Hons, president and CEO of the South Texas affiliate of Planned Parenthood, which covers the region from San Antonio to Brownsville, was more blunt in a statement issued as part of the announcement of the lawsuit.

“Texas’s attempt to cut 13,500 women from health care is mean-spirited and cruel,” Hons said. “Politicians are looking to score a few cheap, shameful political points at the expense of our patients who face the greatest challenges accessing care.”

The lawsuit was filed against Texas health commissioner Chris Traylor

“Politicians are looking to score a few cheap, shameful political points at the expense of our patients.” Jeffrey Hons, CEO of the South Texas affiliate of Planned Parenthood

and inspector general Stuart Bowen, who announced the move against Planned Parenthood last month, citing program violations revealed in an undercover video and suspicion of Medicaid fraud. Both declined comment, as did Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The 20-page lawsuit claims the state’s allegations are false and irrelevant to the Medicaid standing of most Planned Parenthood clinics, and that the move would harm the patients and thousands of other low-income women. It asks for immediate relief, because the state’s move could take effect as soon as Dec. 8.

The suit was filed as class-action litigation in a federal court based here. It is similar to an unsuccessful suit filed by Planned Parenthood after it was kicked out of the Texas Women’s Health Program in 2011.

However, Planned Parenthood affiliates in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Utah largely have prevailed in initial legal skirmishes of lawsuits over similar attempts by the states to remove the organization from their Medicaid programs.

In Texas, by far the largest of those states, the lawsuit signals the start of what could be a bitter legal battle between politicians and abortion providers in a state that has seen plenty of them.

20 percent of income

The stakes are relatively small compared to past battles. No abortion providers in the United States can receive any taxpayer money for abortion and Texas affiliates of Planned Parenthood already have been cut out of most health programs, leaving just the $3 million in annual funding, of which only $300,000 comes from the state taxpayer dollars.

Still, the money makes up 20 percent of the income at the Houston affiliate of Planned Parenthood and 10 and 5 percent at the South Texas and Central Texas affiliates, respectively.

Bowen announced the removal of Planned Parenthood from Medicaid — a long-standing goal of anti-abortion activists — in Oct. 19 letters to organization officials that said, “the State has determined that you and your Planned Parenthood affiliates are no longer capable of performing medical services in a professionally competent, safe, legal and ethical manner.”

Specifically, the inspector general said there was evidence of Medicaid fraud and that the video released as part of a series about the handling of fetal organs by Planned Parenthood staffers across the country showed that employees at a Houston clinic have allowed private citizens to touch fetal remains wearing only gloves and have altered the abortion process to preserve fetal organs so they could be donated for medical research.

The state has not elaborated on its claim of Medicaid fraud, although three days after sending the letter, officials requested records from Planned Parenthood facilities across the state. The organization has not yet turned over those documents, citing privacy concerns.

The lawsuit filed Monday notes that the state has not actually offered any evidence of Medicaid fraud and says the videos have been found to be edited and misleading.

As for the consequences of cutting out Planned Parenthood, the suit says it would deprive the plaintiffs and others of “access to the high-quality, specialized care that (Planned Parenthood) provides.”

Claim disputed

Anti-abortion activists disputed that Monday, saying that there are plenty of options for Texas Medicaid recipients.

“Since Planned Parenthood has only a few dozen sites in the state compared to more than 4,600 providers in the Texas Women’s Health Program, we believe there will be ample providers of women’s health services for low-income women across the state,” said Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, an Austin-based anti-abortion group.

In a conference call about the lawsuit, Hal Lawrence of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said Planned Parenthood provides a disproportionate amount of services for the clinics that it has and would leave a significant gap if it could not help Medicaid patients.

“It would be simply impossible to meet that level of need,” Lawrence said.