TEXAS JUMPS ON THE PLANNED PARENTHOOD BANNED WAGON

From the Family Research Council:

Texas is going ahead with its secession plan--from Planned Parenthood. Late last year, the state quit its partnership with the abortion tycoons, dropping Planned Parenthood from its lucrative contract under Texas's Women's Health Program. Attorney General Greg Abbott and state legislators were adamant that health providers who offered abortions had no business participating in the program. With $16 million up for grabs, leaders passed an outright ban on Planned Parenthood, ending its eligibility for the state's Medicaid funding. That didn't sit well with the Obama administration, which swooped into Texas and demanded the state reconsider. When it wouldn't, officials with Health and Human Services (HHS) threatened to cut off federal Medicaid funding completely.

But Texas didn't blink. Last Thursday, state Commissioner Tom Suehs signed the rule into law--calling HHS's bluff and putting Planned Parenthood clinics on the road to extinction in the Lone Star State.

"Under federal law, states administer Medicaid and have the right to set the criteria for providers in the program. That is what Texas is doing," said spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman. "We have a state law that [Attorney General Abbott] says is constitutional, and it clearly bans abortion providers from taking part in the Women's Health Program. We can't violate a perfectly valid state law just to appease Washington."

Already, the policy is having a domino effect on the state's network of Planned Parenthood offices. So far, 12 clinics have closed and others--like this Odessa branch--waited for Thursday's decision before choosing to shut its doors for good. Could the evidence be any clearer? Despite what Planned Parenthood says about segregated funds and the prohibitions on financing abortions, our tax dollars are what keeps these clinics afloat. Without them, Planned Parenthood withers on the vine. That's why it's so important to reevaluate our priorities as a society and invest in health providers that don't engage in abortion--or fraud, for that matter. Apparently, the same network of clinics that Texas defunded is being sued by a former employee for a massive government billing scam. According to the suit, Planned Parenthood has swindled money out of the federal government for years for services it never provided. Karen Reynolds, the whistleblower, claims this--along with falsifying patient records--was standard practice in all 12 Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast locations across Texas and Louisiana. Who can blame Texas for wanting to be rid of a potentially criminal contractor?

HHS is trying to paint Texas's decision as extremist, but I think it's clear who the real extremists are. After all, the Obama administration would rather deny health care to poor women than hurt its relationship with an organization that could be extorting it!