Abortion facilities in Texas lose funding through the Medicaid program starting today, Wednesday, Feb. 3.
According to Breitbart, federal funding for abortion will no longer be available through the Medicaid program starting today. Planned Parenthood requested funding and reimbursement for its services and clinics, but was denied by the state.
As per the Catholic News Agency, The executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, Jennifer Allmon, praised Texas for its persistence in legislature. The state insists that while abortion seems to be the only option for most low-income women, there are actually several options that exist without resorting to killing unborn babies.
"There are hundreds of providers throughout the state of Texas willing to serve poor women with authentic healthcare services that are not also peddling abortion," Allmon explained.
Allmon also added that the Texas Pregnancy Care Network has a list of providers throughout the state that can make referrals to Medicaid providers that "can offer genuine healthcare to women in need."
After a five-year long battle, the state of Texas was finally able to block funding to Planned Parenthood facilities after the lower district court's decision was overruled by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in November.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton revealed an undercover video of Planned Parenthood's unlawful conduct in fetal tissue extraction for their own research purposes which includes several federal law violations further solidifying their decision that the abortion organization is not "qualified" to receive Medicaid funding using taxpayers' money.
In 2019, undercover journalist David Daleiden posed as the head of a procurement company for fetal tissues. The Texas Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast agreed to sell aborted baby livers to Daleiden for $750 each.
To lose funding now for their abortion facilities would be a big blow for Planned Parenthood. In their latest annual report, the organization received over $600 million of reimbursements and grants through the Medicaid program for rendered "government health services."
Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson took to Twitter to express that they will "fight back against any politician who doesn't prioritize expanding accessible, affordable quality health care."
On the other hand, pro-life activist Abby Johnson who was a former manager at Planned Parenthood said that the organization has been repeatedly caught abusing the system.
"As much as abortion advocates will cry this decision hurts the poor and oppressed, Planned Parenthood has been repeatedly caught abusing the very same medical program that is indeed supposed to help low-income families."
Aside from defunding Planned Parenthood, the Texas GA also announced the Senate Bill 8, a state law that now prohibits dismemberment abortions in the second trimester is passed to "protect and foster respect for unborn life."
Dismemberment is one of the worst methods of abortion where an abortionist uses different instruments to dismember an unborn baby's limbs prior to its extraction to the uterus though the Center for Reproductive Rights call it "the safest and most common" method for second trimester abortions.
A few years before, Texas Governor Greg Abbott already signed a law that "prohibits the State Employee Charitable Campaign and its Policy Committee from entering into a taxpayer resource transaction with an abortion provider or an affiliate of an abortion provider."
