Weeks after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas can remove Planned Parenthood facilities from its Medicaid programs, the abortion chain is pleading with state officials to let them remain.
On Friday, Planned Parenthood released a statement asking Governor Greg Abbott to give them a grace period, claiming their patients will be “scrambling” to find alternative health care providers. Planned Parenthood does not acknowledge that its legitimate health care has been declining for decades (likewise with number of patients) while its abortions have skyrocketed, according to its own annual report.
Planned Parenthood also neglected to mention the reasons Texas chose to defund it from the Medicaid program in the first place. One of these reasons was the corporation’s involvement in the illegal trafficking of aborted baby body parts. “Undercover video plainly showed Planned Parenthood admitting to morally bankrupt and unlawful conduct, including violations of federal law by manipulating the timing and methods of abortions to obtain fetal tissue for their own research,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a press release.
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast was one of the affiliates referred for criminal prosecution by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Select Investigative Panel for Infant Lives. The affiliate was also fined $1.4 million after a state Medicaid fraud investigation. According to Gov. Greg Abbott’s statement, “Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast improperly billed the Texas Medicaid program for products and services that were never actually rendered, not medically necessary, and were not covered by the Medicaid program – and were therefore not eligible for reimbursement.”
READ: WIN: Fifth Circuit rules Texas can disqualify Planned Parenthood from Medicaid
“Anytime health care is restricted, people suffer,” Bhavik Kumar, medical director for primary and trans care of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said in the statement. “And it’s important to note that people of color and women rely on publicly funded health care programs like Medicaid at disproportionate rates because of systemic racism and discrimination in our country. There are no two ways about it: Blocking Medicaid patients from care at Planned Parenthood creates yet another sexist and racist barrier to affordable health care at a time when people need it most.”
Jeffrey Hons, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, also claimed that people rely on them for health care. “The people who rely on Medicaid are the most vulnerable Texans, and likely experiencing some of the worst economic effects of the pandemic,” he said. “Forcing people — many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, and care for their families in a global pandemic — to scramble for basic health care is terrible policy, certainly uncharitable, indeed un-American.”
Using health care as a euphemism for abortion is dishonest, yet Planned Parenthood persists. Abortion simply is not health care, because health care should never intentionally end a human life — and it is never truly medically necessary.
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