If the state of Texas wins its case against Planned Parenthood, the group has said it may be compelled to shut down. Texas has filed a formal complaint.
This “bogus lawsuit” is an “effort to shut down Planned Parenthood health clinics,” as Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Alexis McGill Johnson stated.
It has been alleged that Planned Parenthood committed fraud by continuing to receive Medicaid funding even after the state began taking legal action to end the funding.
The first notice that Texas would discontinue funding the abortion provider via Medicaid was given in December of 2016. The nonprofit started legal action, and a federal court ultimately ruled in its favor, allowing it to keep accepting Medicaid patients. In 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed this ruling, but in 2021, it was upheld once more.
The case allegations center on Planned Parenthood’s purported use of a legal appeal rather than a legislative one. The group is also charged with receiving bogus payments for work done after February 1, 2017.
The state of Texas is seeking $17 million in compensation.
The fact that federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk would be making the decision has further enraged pro-choice advocates since he already ruled against the Biden administration in April and issued a hold on the sale of the abortion medication mifepristone.
At this time, activist Laura Packard posed the issue in a tweet, asking who should be in charge of whether you can obtain crucial health care – a MAGA-extremist judge or the FDA and your doctor.
According to Planned Parenthood, the total amount of potential penalties under the federal False Claims Act might exceed one billion dollars, one for each of the allegedly fraudulent payments. Pro-abortion clinic supporters claim on social media that the lawsuit might cost as much as $1.8 billion.
