Rooting for another injunction.
Right there with them
Texas officials are back in federal court this week over abortion-related policy, this time to defend efforts to oust Planned Parenthood from Medicaid.
Planned Parenthood has asked U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks to block the ouster as illegal, unjustified and unfair — an improperly political move that could deprive about 11,000 low-income Texans of access to contraceptives, cancer screening, breast exams and testing for sexually transmitted infections.
Lawyers for Texas argue that a 2015 video, shot by abortion opponents using a hidden camera, showed a pattern of “gross violations of medical and ethical standards” — as well as human decency — in the fetal tissue donation practices of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Houston.
“The state should not have to wait until it is too late before it can act to protect Medicaid recipients and taxpayers,” lawyers for Attorney General Ken Paxton told Sparks in a legal brief.
Sparks will hear three days of testimony beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday in his Austin courtroom in a case with a tight deadline. Planned Parenthood is scheduled to be dropped from the Texas Medicaid program Saturday.
One option for the judge is a temporary order blocking the ouster — keeping the status quo until he can research and write an opinion.
That’s what Sparks did when abortion providers sued to block a state rule requiring clinics and hospitals to bury or cremate fetal remains from abortions or miscarriages. After hearing two days of testimony earlier this month, Sparks promised a ruling by the end of next week.
No matter how Sparks rules — in either case — the losing side is expected to appeal, meaning it could be months before the fate of Planned Parenthood or the fetal burial rule is determined.
See here for the background. Yes, the state is actually using those utterly fraudulent Center for Medical Progress videos as evidence for tossing Planned Parenthood from Medicaid. This is basically the equivalent of arguing that because you found a dollar under your pillow this morning, the Tooth Fairy must really exist. I don’t think there’s anything one can add to that. The Trib has a first day of testimony report, and Trail Blazers and the Texas Standard have more.