Planned Parenthood Asks Federal Judge to Halt TX Medicaid Cuts

Planned Parenthood asked a federal judge to stop Texas officials’ plans to drop it from Medicaid on Friday. The organization was informed earlier this week that it would be dropped from Medicaid as early as January 21 as part of a plan which it called “a politically motivated witch hunt.” The cuts would see Planned Parenthood affiliates throughout the state deprived of about $4 billion, which the nation’s largest abortion provider says would mean reducing health coverage for about 11,000 low-income women each year. The request to halt the cuts, submitted to U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks on Friday, is part of an ongoing lawsuit filed last year. “Courts have unanimously prevented these terminations and agreed that preventing Medicaid enrollees from obtaining care from the qualified provider of their choice violates federal law,” Planned Parenthood’s legal representation wrote in their request, according to the Associated Press. Similar initiatives to cut Planned Parenthood from Medicaid have been stopped by federal judges in Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas and Mississippi.