Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced on Monday that the state will defund the Planned Parenthood through the Medicaid program. The Health and Human Services of Texas informed the organization of its decision via a letter.
The letter to Planned Parenthood notified the agency of a series of health violations that could potentially lead to the spread of infectious diseases, as the undercover videos released by Center For Medical Progress (CMP) showed the fetal body parts handled by the staff and buyers without mandatory precautions. It expressed concern that the clinics were "liable, directly or by affiliation, for a series of serious Medicaid program violations."
"You failed to prevent conditions that would allow the spread of infectious diseases among employees, as well as patients and the general public. Specifically, you allowed individuals posing as commercial buyers of fetal body parts to handle bloody fetal tissue while wearing only gloves," the letter states.
It claimed that ending funding to Planned Parenthood will not affect low-cost healthcare to women as "there are thousands of alternate providers in Texas, including federally qualified health centers, Medicaid-certified rural health clinics, and other health care providers across the State that participate in the Texas Women's Health Program and Medicaid."
The governor's office said in a statement published on state's official website:
"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. As such, ending the Medicaid participation of Planned Parenthood affiliates in the State of Texas is another step in providing greater access to safe healthcare for women while protecting our most vulnerable - the unborn."
Texas has launched investigation into the allegations brought forth through the videos on the baby-part harvesting practice of the Planned Parenthood.
The health-care and abortion provider has maintained its stance that the undercover videos are selectively edited to distort truth, and do not form any basis of accusation against the organization.
"What's happening today in Texas should be a national scandal," Dawn Laguens, Executive Director at Planned Parenthood was quoted as saying by Huffington Post. "It is completely outrageous that Texas officials are using these thoroughly discredited, fraudulent videos to cut women off from preventive health care, including cancer screenings, HIV testing, and birth control. This smear campaign has been completely discredited because the claims are completely false."
Many states were in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood, even before the videos were released because of its abortion services. But according to federal Medicaid regulations, states are not "permitted to exclude providers from the program solely on the basis of the range of medical services they provide."
Lila Rose, president of pro-life organization Live Action, said on her website that even with withdrawal of Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood, low-income women have many options to avail safe women's care in Texas.
"There are over 13,000 federally qualified health care clinics that provide comprehensive and better care to women - on average, 20 clinics for every one Planned Parenthood facility," said Rose.
The new decision by Texas is likely to be taken up in court, as happened in other states of Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas. A federal judge in Louisiana asked the state to continue funding Planned Parenthood for at least 14 days, until a ruling is issued.
