When state lawmakers pushed to remove from Texas鈥� as part of an anti-abortion agenda, some questioned whether the state could absorb the cost of the change.
We still don鈥檛 know, because at year鈥檚 end, the legal battle over 鈥� currently the largest provider in the program鈥� is still being fought.
In February, then-Texas Health and Human Services commissioner Tom Suehs endorsed a ruling prohibiting "affiliates of abortion providers" 鈥� i.e., Planned Parenthood 鈥� from participating in the Texas Women鈥檚 Health Program. The move was widely expected: despite sweeping public health care cuts passed by the Texas Legislature in 2011, but with the provision providers like Planned Parenthood would be excluded.
The Texas Tribune :
Republican lawmakers worked overtime last legislative session to design language that would keep any Planned Parenthood-affiliated clinics from receiving state family planning and women鈥檚 health dollars, despite the fact that taxpayer-funded clinics may not perform abortions.聽
But the federal government had balked at Texas鈥� exclusion of Planned Parenthood, arguing it violated a provision in the Social Security Act stipulating that Medicaid patients can receive care from any qualified agency.
Moreover, Planned Parenthood provides nearly half of the services in the health program, including prenatal care, contraception, cancer screenings, and well-woman exams 鈥� while the health program overall leverages $9 in federal funding for every $1 in state funding spent.
With neither side backing down, Texas vowed it would 鈥� a vow that requires the state to to fill the funding gap.
In April, the (and federal funds) in transitioning to a new, state-run program. Then later that month, a district judge ordered the state to from the program. That finding was bolstered by another decision a few days later , before a circuit court .
The state-funded health program was slated to launch Nov. 1; just prior to then, Texas moved to to Planned Parenthood, which launched another round of litigation; the state until the cases had been resolved.
Planned Parenthood to stay in the program. On Nov. 8, it , which the state is appealing.
The new year should bring some clarity to the program 鈥� and whether Planned Parenthood will continue to play a role in it. But the upcoming legislative session will also crate a new battleground over abortion and women鈥檚 health: Gov. Rick Perry has signaled his support for legislation .
