photo credit: Bill Dickinson / Flickr |
Texas lawmakers started their attempt to remove Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood back in 2015, but they faced legal challenges for years before this week's victory.
The most recent challenge by Planned Parenthood alleged that Texas officials did not properly give Planned Parenthood advanced notice that they would no longer be receiving Medicaid funds. While the state did give Planned Parenthood advanced notice back in 2016, they claimed that Texas was required to start that process over after a court case resolved. Judge Lora Livingston, while empathetic to the abortion corporation, ruled that this was not the case. Livingston agreed with Texas officials when she said that Planned Parenthood is “now not able to revive their administrative remedies as the deadline to seek that relief has long since passed. The merits of their claims must be determined by the federal courts.”
Texas was motivated to stop giving Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood after undercover Center for Medical Progress videos exposed the corporation's selling of body parts harvested from aborted infants.