Planned Parenthood will no longer be eligible for Medicaid funding in Texas.

The state, whose Republican leaders have been waging a crusade against the health care provider because some of its clinics provide abortions, announced that the nonprofit group will not receive any more money for providing a range of health services, such as cancer screenings, contraceptives and STD testing.

Last year Planned Parenthood received $3.1 million through the state’s Medicaid program.

The organization has two weeks to appeal the decision in an administrative hearing, but the group has said that it will instead take the state to court.

"Planned Parenthood continues to serve Medicaid patients and will seek a preliminary injunction in an ongoing lawsuit filed in November 2015, following the state’s original threats to take action against Planned Parenthood’s patients," Yvonne Gutierrez, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, a political organization affiliated with the nonprofit, tells the Texas Tribune.

State officials announced last that they would be cutting off funds to Planned Parenthood, citing an undercover video investigation of the nonprofit launched by an anti-abortion group. Anti-abortion activists alleged the video showed a Planned Parenthood negotiating the illegal sale of fetal tissue to researchers, a claim that was quickly debunked.

In fact, a Houston grand jury convened to investigate the allegations against Planned Parenthood declined to indict the organization, instead indicting two of the activists involved in making the undercover videos about the group. Those charges were later dismissed by a judge.

Federal officials have said that the state risks losing federal funds if it denies Medicaid dollars to Planned Parenthood. That threat may carry less weight, however, now that Donald Trump will be taking over the White House in a month.

The fate of Planned Parenthood nationally is similarly uncertain. Republican leaders in Congress have said they are committed to stripping $400 million in federal funds that go to the organization through Medicaid and other public health programs.

Democrats are sure to vehemently oppose the effort but what Trump — who has said both that the organization “helps millions of women” and that he would cut funding because it provides abortions — intends to do is unclear.

Instant Insights /

Texas trying to kick Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid

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