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 Hours earlier in neighboring Louisiana, a federal judge blocked
that state's efforts to cut the group's funding.
In a letter to Planned Parenthood clinics statewide, Texas health
officials said all funding from Medicaid, the government healthcare
program for the poor, was being cut because of what it characterized
as program violations captured on the videos.
"The gruesome harvesting of baby body parts by Planned Parenthood
will not be allowed in Texas and the barbaric practice must be
brought to an end," Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood vowed to fight back, though it did not say
whether it would mount a legal challenge.
Abbott is one of several Republican governors who have moved to
strip the organization's government funding since an anti-abortion
group released the secretly recorded videos last summer about how
Planned Parenthood handles the tissue of aborted fetuses used for
medical research.
The group, the Center for Medical Progress, said the videos showed
Planned Parenthood officials discussing the illegal sale of aborted
fetal tissue. The reproductive health organization has said the
videos were deceptive, denied any wrongdoing and challenged the
funding cuts by Republican-controlled states as politically
motivated.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who is seeking the Republican
presidential nomination, had also severed Planned Parenthood's
Medicaid funding.
But late on Sunday, U.S. District Judge John deGravelles signed a
temporary restraining order requiring the state to continue
providing Medicaid funding to the group's clinics for the next two
weeks as the legal fight over the payments continues.
In a 59-page ruling, deGravelles found that Planned Parenthood would
likely be able to prove that attempts to end its funding in
Louisiana were unrelated to its competence.
"In fact, the uncontradicted evidence in the record at this time is
that (Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast) does not perform abortions in
Louisiana, is not involved in the sale of fetal tissue and none of
the conduct in question occurred at the PPGC’s two Louisiana
facilities," the judge said in his ruling.
Planned Parenthood said the defunding effort targeted medical
services, including cancer screenings and other preventive
healthcare, that it provides to more than 5,200 low-income patients
at clinics in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
Planned Parenthood applauded the ruling in Louisiana, while calling
Texas' move to end funding "a national scandal."
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A spokeswoman for the organization would not say whether it would
challenge Texas in federal court. In addition to its case in
Louisiana, Planned Parenthood has filed lawsuits against similar
moves in Utah, Arkansas and Alabama.
"We will fight back against this outrageous, malicious, political
attack in Texas with everything we've got, and we will protect
women's access to the health care they need and deserve," Dawn
Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation
of America, said in a statement.
Jindal spokesman Mike Reed said the administration would appeal the
judge's decision in Louisiana.
"Planned Parenthood is engaging in classic misdirection regarding
the millions they have repaid in Medicaid fraud and their own
admissions in the baby parts trafficking videos," Reed said in a
statement. "Instead of going through the same administrative review
as any other Medicaid provider, they are running to the federal
courts and asking for special treatment."
The Planned Parenthood controversy has played out on the national
level as well as in the states. Republicans in the U.S. House of
Representatives have tried to strip the organization of its federal
funding and even threatened a government shutdown over the issue.
Jindal and other Republican presidential candidates, notably former
Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, have generally called
for defunding Planned Parenthood, while Democratic hopefuls have
expressed support for the organization.
Planned Parenthood announced earlier this month that it would no
longer accept reimbursement for fetal tissue donated for research
following abortions.
(Additional reporting and writing by Colleen Jenkins)
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