Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Women lawmakers in Minnesota are in the vanguard of the democracy movement

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 3
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8
      • Voter ID laws stand between transgender people, women and the ballot box

        Barbara Rodriguez · October 14

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News from reporters who represent you and your communities.

Please check your email to confirm your subscription!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Signs at a reception window at a Planned Parenthood
A reception area at a Planned Parenthood. (Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)

Abortion

Planned Parenthood asks judge to rule in Texas Medicaid fraud suit

Some conservative attorneys general are taking action against abortion providers in a climate that experts describe as “more hostile” since the Supreme Court left the legality of abortion up to the states. 

Jennifer Gerson

Reporter

Jennifer Gerson headshot

Published

2023-01-09 08:03
8:03
January 9, 2023
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates have asked a judge for a ruling in their favor in a lawsuit brought by the state of Texas that accused Planned Parenthood of Medicaid fraud. 

The suit was filed in January 2022 by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, but the situation goes back to 2016, when the state of Texas barred Planned Parenthood from participating in its Medicaid program. If the judge does not rule in favor of either party, the case will most likely move to a jury trial this spring. The lawsuit is one of a number of moves made by states that could limit or prevent providers from practicing, even as state legislatures restrict access to abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization leaving legality up to the states. 

In Indiana, Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a complaint with the state medical board against abortion provider Dr. Caitlin Bernard. Bernard first entered national headlines after performing a legal abortion on a 10-year-old who had traveled to Indiana from Ohio for an abortion that she could not receive in her home state. Rokita initially claimed that Bernard failed to properly report this abortion, though documents reviewed by The 19th confirmed that she had. Rokita’s office, in its complaint to the medical board, said Bernard did not protect the privacy of her minor patient. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

“Instead, she violated her sacred oath of confidentiality by intentionally exposing her 10-year-old patient’s trauma to the media, all for the sake of furthering her political views,” Rokita said in an emailed statement. Bernard’s first hearing before the Indiana Medical Review Board is scheduled for next month. She has denied all wrongdoing. 

“Dobbs now makes abortion providers and reproductive health providers generally more vulnerable, politically and legally. But that also means that people are paying attention,” Elizabeth Sepper, a professor at the University of Texas Law School who specializes in health law and religious liberty, told The 19th. 

  • More from The 19th
  • A ‘born alive’ measure is one of the House GOP’s priorities. Here’s what it would actually do.
  • What abortion looks like in every state — right now

Sepper said that while a number of states have made efforts to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid programs and individual abortion providers have long found themselves subject to a myriad of intense bureaucratic regulation and compliance requirements, the climate is now “more hostile” — which means that the tone and tenor of actions taken against networks of clinics and individual providers alike is too. 

A request for comment on the merits of the suit from Paxton’s office had not received a reply by the time of publication. 

The latest move by Planned Parenthood in the Texas case came late Friday, just before a deadline to respond. In January 2022, the state of Texas and an anonymous plaintiff sued Planned Parenthood’s national office and the three Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas, alleging that Planned Parenthood was not entitled to keep certain Medicaid reimbursements. When those reimbursements were received, court orders allowed Planned Parenthood to participate in the state program; that ended in 2021. Plaintiffs are suing the three Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates not only for the approximately $17 million they received in Medicaid reimbursements but for over $1 billion in additional penalties and damages. The state’s deadline to respond to Planned Parenthood’s new filing for a summary judgment is January 27, and Planned Parenthood’s reply brief to the state is due on February 10. If the judge in the suit does not issue an immediate ruling on the case, it will most likely move to a jury trial this spring. 

Laura Terrill, CEO of Planned Parenthood of South Texas, said the lawsuit is “the latest political attack” by Texas officials. 

“This is about controlling people’s bodies and lives. It is not enough here in Texas to simply ban abortion, but now the state is shutting down health care providers and preventing them from meeting the health care needs of Texans,” Terrill said.

Terrill called the Texas case meritless and part of a relentless strategy to limit access to health care by targeting providers seen not just in Texas, but nationwide in states already hostile to reproductive health care. 

Nicole Huberfeld, the Edward R. Utley Professor in Health Law at Boston University’s School of Law, said anti-abortion politicians are “emboldened” by the Dobbs decision. 

“Attorney generals are political actors, and some believe they can be reelected based on being aggressive in prosecuting abortion cases,” she said. 

While prosecuting doctors is not generally politically popular, she said, it can scare other providers. In this way, the situation in Texas with Planned Parenthood is not dissimilar to what is happening with Bernard, she said. “I see this as harassment litigation — it appears to have no other purpose. A judge should consider it frivolous, but that may not occur with sympathetic courts,” she said of the Texas suit. “Such strategies could have a chilling effect on health care providers, who tend to be risk-averse.”

Stories by experienced reporters you can trust and relate to.

Delivered directly to your inbox every weekday.

Please check your email to confirm your subscription!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Physicians and nurses are already worried about the restrictions by states and how they could impact their ability to provide care. 

“When I speak with physicians, they are terrified that they will lose their license when they provide care that is consistent with the standard of care in a given situation — and that means they will slow down when they make medical decisions, which can jeopardize patient health and safety,” Huberfeld said. “Clinicians tend to be conservative in terms of not wanting to take risks, and they are afraid that practicing to the standard of care will jeopardize their patients and their ability to practice.”

Sepper said that what is happening in Indiana and Texas could send a message to providers that family planning generally is in danger — causing OB-GYNs to want to disassociate themselves from abortion providers and the topic of abortion altogether. This kind of reaction, she said, “would come at a particularly inopportune moment because we do need doctors to get a backbone and to speak about what they are seeing as OB-GYNs and about how important abortion access is to pregnant people.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Help sustain what we started

Your monthly investment is critical to our sustainability as a nonprofit newsroom.

Donate Today

Become a member

Up Next

Abortion

A ‘born alive’ measure is one of the House GOP’s priorities. Here’s what it would actually do.

The measure is one of a number of pieces of anti-abortion legislation that the House GOP has promised swift votes on.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram