Right there with them
Planned Parenthood late Friday asked a federal judge in Austin to block plans by Texas officials to kick the organization out of Medicaid.
Calling state plans “nothing more than a politically motivated witch hunt,” Planned Parenthood asked U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks to issue an injunction or temporary restraining order allowing an estimated 11,000 Texans to continue receiving contraceptives, well-woman exams and screenings for cancer and HIV from the organization.
Planned Parenthood received $4.2 million in Medicaid funding in fiscal year 2015, the latest information available, to provide the services to low-income Texans.
A hearing in the case had previously been set for 9 a.m. Jan. 17 in Sparks’ Austin courtroom.
Citing undercover videos shot by abortion opponents and made public last year, Texas officials announced Dec. 20 that Planned Parenthood would no longer be an approved Medicaid provider as early as Jan. 21.
[…]
Planned Parenthood also argued that Medicaid, a joint federal-state program, operates under U.S. rules that allow patients to receive care from the qualified provider of their choice.
Similar efforts to oust Planned Parenthood from Medicaid programs in Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas and Mississippi have all been blocked by courts for violating the federal provider-choice rule, the organization’s lawyers said.
See here for the background. The video is bullshit, produced by known liars, but it’s sufficient as a pretext for the state to do what it has wanted to do for over a year. The only question is whether they’ll get away with it or not. The DMN has more.