Breitbart News reports that the state of Texas wants Planned Parenthood to repay millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements, upsetting the abortion business that may be hit with more fines.
The lawsuit pertaining to the issue could be the first of its kind brought by a state against the organization, the Associated Press (AP) reported, noting a hearing was scheduled for Tuesday with U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk.
Kacsmaryk recently “put access to the most common method of abortion in the U.S. in limbo with a ruling that invalidated approval of the abortion pill mifepristone,” the outlet continued:
The case now before him in America’s biggest red state does not surround abortion, which has been banned in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. But Planned Parenthood argues the attempt to recoup at least $17 million in Medicaid payments for health services, including cancer screenings, is a new effort to weaken the organization after years of Republican-led laws that stripped funding and imposed restrictions on how its clinics operate.
At issue is money Planned Parenthood received for health services before Texas removed the organization from the state’s Medicaid program in 2021. Texas had begun trying to oust Planned Parenthood four years earlier and is seeking repayment for services billed during that time.
According to the AP report, the Texas lawsuit was brought per the federal False Claims Act, noting the lawsuit was announced in 2022 by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
In January 2022, Paxton slapped the Planned Parenthood Federation of America with the lawsuit in an effort to recoup millions of dollars the abortion business received via the state’s Medicaid program after it was defunded, Breitbart News reported at the time.
“Specifically, Planned Parenthood received reimbursement from Texas Medicaid to which it was not entitled. Planned Parenthood knowingly and improperly avoided its obligation to repay money owed to the Texas Medicaid program,” the lawsuit states.
Planned Parenthood performed the second-highest number of abortions ever while also experiencing record-high revenue during its 2021-2022 fiscal year, Breitbart News reported in April while citing the organization’s annual report:
The abortion giant performed 374,155 abortions, according to the report, titled “Relentless.” That number is down from 383,460 abortions the previous year, which is the highest number recorded in the history of the organization. Planned Parenthood is estimated to perform approximately 40 percent of abortions in the United States.
Planned Parenthood also raked in 1.9 billion in revenue for the year ending June 30, 2022, and the outlet noted “$670.4 million of which came from taxpayers in the form of ‘Government Health Services Reimbursements and Grants.’”