In a critical step in a longstanding fight, Texas formally said on Tuesday that it was ending Medicaid funding of Planned Parenthood, a move the group said could affect 11,000 patients.
The office of inspector general for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission issued a final notice terminating Planned Parenthood's enrollment in the state-funded health care system for the poor. If it is not stopped, the termination will be effective in 30 days.
Planned Parenthood officials said Tuesday night that they would continue to provide birth control, cancer screenings, HIV tests and other care to Medicaid patients and seek an injunction in federal court to stop the state. The group sued the state in 2015 after a preliminary notice was filed, but the court case has lingered pending further action by the state.
At stake is about $4 million a year in Medicaid funding. The formal notice is the latest salvo in a legal and political fight that dates back years but intensified 15 months ago when the state issued a preliminary notice to end Medicaid funding for the group's 34 health care centers.
[Texas will require burial of aborted fetuses]
"Texas is a cautionary tale for the rest of the nation," said Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. "If the nation goes the way of Texas, it will be nothing less than a national health care disaster."
In a statement Tuesday night, the office of Gov. Greg Abbott said, "Texans expect that when taxpayer dollars are granted to health care providers, it is only to those who demonstrate that the health and safety of their patients come before a profit motive that puts women at greater risk."
The termination notice, signed by the inspector general, Stuart Bowen Jr., cited violations that found Planned Parenthood was unqualified to provide medical services "in a professionally competent, safe, legal and ethical manner."
The notice cited "extensive undercover video" obtained from a Planned Parenthood center in April 2015. The secretly recorded videos purported to show officials trying to illegally profit from the sale of aborted fetal tissue and discussing the issue with abortion opponents who posed as representatives of a biomedical firm. Planned Parenthood has said that the videos were deceptively edited and that the group did nothing illegal or unethical.
Representatives from the Health and Human Services Commission and the inspector general could not be immediately reached Tuesday night about the timing of the notice.
Planned Parenthood has 15 days to file an administrative appeal. A spokeswoman said the group was evaluating whether to pursue an appeal in addition to seeking relief in federal court.