AUSTIN, Texas — The abortion giant Planned Parenthood has filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas for terminating its Medicaid contract effective Dec. 8.
“By cancelling Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid contract, these politicians are telling women where they can and cannot go for reproductive healthcare,” Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America told reporters on Monday, asserting that the termination was illegal.
Richards is the daughter of Ann Richards, who was the Democratic governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995.
As previously reported, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission sent a letter to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast last month, providing the entity with a notice of termination.
“[T]here is reliable information indicating a pattern of illegal billing practices by Planned Parenthood affiliates, including you, across the state,” the letter reads. “Our prima facie case of fraud is supported by related cases involving fraudulent practices identified by whistleblowers from inside the Texas Planned Parenthood network.”
It points to two federal lawsuits that had been settled for millions after whistleblowers came forward about false Medicaid claims that had been filed.
Without specifically mentioning the Center for Medical Progress, the Commission also references undercover video footage showing representatives from a Texas Planned Parenthood facility discussing its willingness to alter abortion procedures to remove deceased children whole.
“The videos indicate that you follow a policy of agreeing to procure fetal tissue even if it means altering the timing or method of an abortion. These practices violate accepted medical standards, as reflected in federal law, and are Medicaid program violations that justify termination,” the letter reads.
It further notes that the organization violated safety protocols surrounding the spread of infectious diseases.
“Specifically, you allowed individuals posing as commercial buyers of fetal body parts to handle bloody fetal tissue while wearing only gloves,” the Commission outlines.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had stated prior to the filing of the lawsuit that he hoped Planned Parenthood would bring a legal challenge so that he could place officials under oath and get to the truth.
“I hope for a legal challenge here because I want to put these Planned Parenthood officials under oath and get them to swear about the practices that they were conducting in the state of Texas. Either, their horrific practices will be revealed or they may be found in violation of laws for perjury,” he told Fox News. “Texas does have hard evidence showing Medicaid fraud.”
As previously reported, a video released in August by the Center for Medical Progress captured Melissa Farrell, director of research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, discussing with undercover investigators the “diversification of the revenue stream” over dinner, along with a visit to the organization’s pathology lab, where workers sort through the remains of aborted babies.
“If we alter our process and we are able to obtain intact fetal cadavers, then we can make it part of the budget, that any dissections are this, and splitting the specimens into different shipments is this,” she explained. “I mean, it’s all just a matter of line items.”
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