From the SFLA Blog

In Texas, Planned Parenthood DROPS Lawsuit Seeking Taxpayer Funding Through Medicaid

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Brenna Lewis - 17 May 2021

“This has been a year of pro-life victories in Texas,” said Sarah Zarr, Texas and Southern Regional Manager for Students for Life and Students for Life Action. “And this is largely attributable to the commitment and activation of pro-life advocates who have shown up and worked hard to expose the abortion industry and protect the most vulnerable preborn residents from abortion violence.” 

AUSTIN, T.X., and WASHINGTON, D.C. (05-17-2021) – Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas has dropped a lawsuit against the state of Texas in which it fought to stay in the state’s Medicaid program. Planned Parenthood disqualified itself from receiving taxpayer money through Medicaid when it engaged in behaviors that violated its provider agreement with the state. These included referring to the sale body parts from children killed inside Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s “Center for Choice” as “a matter of line items” (selling human body parts is against federal law) and scheming to alter abortion methods in order to obtain “intact fetal cadavers” (also a violation of the law). These actions were caught on video by investigative journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the Center for Medical Progress. As a result, the state of Texas terminated Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid contract, and instead of continuing to fight for the taxpayer money, the abortion vendor dropped its lawsuit last week, as confirmed by court documents obtained by Students for Life.

David Daleiden, Project Lead at the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), told Students for Life and Students for Life Action exclusively:

After Texas defunded Planned Parenthood using CMP’s undercover videos as the evidence, Planned Parenthood not only sued me, it also sued the State of Texas. Last week, Planned Parenthood dismissed their lawsuit against Texas, surrendering to their disqualification from Medicaid due to their wrongdoing found on my undercover videos—evidence confirmed by the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In public, Planned Parenthood lies about the wrongdoing in their fetal harvesting programs, but under oath in the courtroom, Planned Parenthood surrenders, because the truth about their sale of baby body parts is indefensible.

In addition to the pro-life victory of Planned Parenthood’s disqualification from Medicaid, Texas has also passed numerous, strong bills this session that will protect children and women from the abortion industry. Students for Life and Students for Life Action have activated throughout the 2021 legislative session to ensure that the Pro-Life Generation is heard by the state’s elected officials, offering testimonies in support of pro-life bills and lobbying senators to vote pro-life.

Additionally, just this month, Texas became home to the first Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance, in Lubbock, that effectively prohibits Planned Parenthood from killing children inside city limits. Students for Life Action deployed in force ahead of the Lubbock Sanctuary City for the Unborn vote to ensure that residents knew what was at stake in the move.

Sarah Zarr, Texas and Southern Regional Manager for SFLA and SFLAction, said: “This has been a year of pro-life victories in Texas. And this is largely attributable to the commitment and activation of pro-life advocates who have shown up and worked hard to expose the abortion industry and protect the most vulnerable preborn residents from abortion violence. Texas is showing the nation that pro-life progress is NOT at the mercy of who sits in the Oval Office. Rather, right now, more than anything pro-life progress depends on our individual willingness to take action when the injustice of abortion rears its ugly head in our local communities.”

For interviews, contact Lauren Enriquez at[email protected]

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Students for Life Action(SFLAction)is the 501c4sister organizationof Students for Life of America (SFLA), the nation’s largest, pro-life, student organization with more than 1,240groups on middle,high school,and university campuses in all 50 states.Students for Life has more conversations with those most targeted by the abortion industry every day, week, and year than any other pro-life outreach in the world and mobilizes the Pro-Life Generation to confront abortion at the local, state, and national levels daily.Every week,Students for Life entities reach more than 2 million people across social media platforms to have nearly 200,000 digital conversations with the most engaged pro-life online audience in the world.

Students for Life of America(SFLA)is the nation’s largest, pro-life, youth organization. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA serves more than 1,240groups on college and university, middle and high school, medical and law school campuses in all 50 states.Student pro-life organizations work to confront policies on their campuses to support pregnant and parenting students, to end Planned Parenthood’s relationships with schools and communities, and to change minds of their peers about abortion.SFLA has more conversations with those most targeted by the abortion industry every day, week, and year than any other pro-life organization.

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