Texas judge temporarily blocks state from ending Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding

On Wednesday, February 3, 2021, a Texas judge blocked the state from removing Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, after it filed a last-minute lawsuit against the state. The new rule was set to go into effect on February 4 after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state could defund the abortion corporation.

Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit alleges that the state did not give Medicaid patients who use Planned Parenthood adequate time to find a new provider. Patients had been given 30 days to find a new health care provider as opposed to the six months Planned Parenthood requested. Now that the grace period has ended, Travis County Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled that patients should be given more time, set a hearing for February 17, and placed a temporary restraining order on the rule, according to The Blaze.

This time extension raises the question: if seemingly healthy Medicaid patients need more than 30 days to find a new primary care provider, why does Texas’ 10-Day Rule give families of critically ill patients just 10 days to find a new health care facility? Is it discrimination against disabled individuals, favoritism for Planned Parenthood, or both?

READ: Planned Parenthood’s plan for 2021: Fight state restrictions on abortion

Texas has been working to remove Planned Parenthood from its state Medicaid program for years due to an undercover investigation released in 2015 that exposed Planned Parenthood’s participation in the sale of aborted human body parts. In addition, in 2013, Planned Parenthood was fined $1.4 million for fraudulently over-billing Texas Medicaid. In 2017, a federal judge blocked the state’s attempt to defund Planned Parenthood through Medicaid, but the Fifth Circuit overturned that decision, clearing the way for the rule to go into effect — until Planned Parenthood sued again.

“Now, with more time on its hands, Planned Parenthood will await potential action by the Biden administration, which has already shown urgency in reversing Trump-era policies pertaining to abortion and health care,” wrote Phil Shiver for The Blaze.

Planned Parenthood commits 40% of the abortions in the United States, but any actual health services it claims to provide have drastically declined. From 2008 to 2018, the corporation’s Pap tests decreased by 72%, and breast exams declined by nearly 76%. Though it claims to serve millions of women, the abortion corporation only performed 235,355 well-woman exams in all of 2016. At the same time, while abortion was declining nationally, Planned Parenthood’s abortions actually increased.

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