Earlier today, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General released a letter to Planned Parenthood Texas affiliates terminating their enrollment in the state’s Medicaid program, thereby eliminating the flow of state funds to abortion providers.
The termination comes directly in response to the gruesome videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, which revealed evidence of Medicaid program violations from within Planned Parenthood facilities. According to the letter released by the Office of Inspector General, those include:
- Violations of Federal laws by, “altering the timing or method of an abortion,”
- Failure to comply with mandatory ‘universal precautions,’ including the use of ‘protective barriers,’ required whenever anyone handles, ‘blood.’
- Failing “to comply with the minimum standards that mandatory training requires with regard to these critical public health and safety issues.”
“Our decision to terminate you and all affiliates in Texas finds support in the extensive video evidence filmed at your facility and other Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country, including video footage of the Medical Director of PPFA who appears to not only condone such program violations but also endorse them. This suggests that the program violations recorded at your facility reflect PPFA national policy or accepted practice, which explains in part their widespread occurrence across the country among Planned Parenthood affiliates.”
The termination is consistent with Gov. Abbott’s LIFE initiative; a broader pro-life agenda announced by Abbott shortly after the first CMP videos were released. Among other things, Abbott’s LIFE initiative called for complete elimination of taxpayer funds for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
“Gruesome — and potentially illegal — harvesting of baby body parts by Planned Parenthood cannot be allowed in Texas,” Gov. Abbott stated. “Treating unborn children as commodities to be sold is an abomination. The barbaric practice of harvesting and selling baby body parts must end.”
