(Thanh Tan, Texas Tribune)
A district judge in Austin has ordered Texas to temporarily stop its enforcement of a rule that would have removed 49 Planned Parenthood clinics from the state’s Medicaid Women’s Health Program starting May 1.
In a 25-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled that the Planned Parenthood organizations that filed the lawsuit proved there could be irreparable harm to their clinics that rely on Women’s Health Program funding to help uninsured Texans access cervical and breast cancer screenings, birth control and STD testing. Yeakel also expressed doubt that the state could find enough providers by Tuesday to replace the Planned Parenthood clinics with other health providers.
“The record demonstrates that plaintiffs currently provide a critical component of Texas’ family-planning services to low-income women,” Yeakel wrote. “The court is unconvinced that Texas will be able to find substitute providers for these women in the immediate future, despite its stated intention to do so.”
In a statement today, Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for Texas’ Health and Human Services Commission, said the agency has received the order and will comply with the ruling, “but we remain confident that federal law gives states the right to establish criteria for Medicaid providers. We will work with the Attorney General’s Office to determine our next steps.” (Read more at Texas Tribune)
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