Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas will likely lose state funds following a federal appeals court ruling Tuesday.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas can restrict state Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood, due to the clinics’ affiliation with abortion providers, until an October trial is resolved.
The three-judge panel said Planned Parenthood failed to show it is “likely to succeed in demonstrating that the … restriction on promoting elective abortions violates their First Amendment rights,” notes Baptist Press.
After Texas banned funds from the Texas Medicaid Women’s Health Program going to groups linked to abortion providers in 2011, Planned Parenthood sued the state, arguing that the clinics do not perform abortions but instead provide family planning and healthcare to low-income women.
The appeals court decision lifts a temporary injunction that “called for the funding to continue pending an October trial on Planned Parenthood’s challenge to the law.” Texas may now implement its ban on clinics affiliated with abortion providers while the case is pending.
The Texas Women’s Health Program previously ran on $40 million of federal and state funds. However, as the Los Angeles Times reports, “federal officials withdrew their contribution earlier this year when the state moved to exclude Planned Parenthood clinics.” Without federal contributions, the program budget dwindles to just $5 million.
However, Texas Gov. Rick Perry released a statement saying that “Texas will continue providing important health services for women through this program in spite of the Obama Administration’s disregard for our state law and unilateral decision to defund this program.”
CT reported on the funding fight between Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood earlier this year, and previously fact-checked claims about Planned Parenthood in 2011.
