Federal appeals court lifts order blocking Texas from kicking Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid

[corbe]

Federal appeals court lifts order blocking Texas from kicking Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid

Texas moved to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid years ago after a highly-edited video from an anti-abortion group suggested abortion providers sold fetal tissue.

by Emma Platoff Jan. 17, 2019 1 hour ago

A federal appeals court has lifted a lower court order that blocked Texas from booting Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid, potentially imperiling the health care provider’s participation in the federal-state health insurance program.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Sam Sparks, the federal district judge who preserved Planned Parenthood’s status in the program in February 2017, had used the wrong standard in his ruling. The appeals court sent the case back to him for further consideration.

The case stems from a long-running flap over a misleading video released in late 2015 by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress, which suggested that abortion providers at Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue for profit. The sting video included edited clips of Planned Parenthood officials discussing the use of fetal tissue for research. A string of investigations that followed the video’s release were unable to confirm its claims, but it energized a crusade against the health care provider and sparked outrage from the state’s Republican leadership.

<..snip..>

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/01/17/federal-appeals-court-/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Reading the article, I cannot find whether a stay remains in place on the state denying Medicaid to PP.

Did you find whether it is?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Anybody find out how this wound up?

[Elderberry]

Anybody find out how this wound up?

@IsailedawayfromFR

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/24/planned-parenthood-medicaid-funds-set-back-texas-r/

The Jan. 17 ruling sent the case back to the lower court. It directed U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks in Austin to apply a lower standard to evaluate whether state officials were “arbitrary and capricious” when terminating Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood for noncompliance with medical and ethical standards.

It’s a big win for the Center for Medical Progress, whose secretly recorded videos inside Planned Parenthood clinics showed employees admitting to performing partial-birth abortions and altering abortions to preserve organs to resell for profit. Both actions are illegal.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

@IsailedawayfromFR

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/24/planned-parenthood-medicaid-funds-set-back-texas-r/

But wasn't there a stay issued that prevented Texas from dropping PP from Medicaid until the courts resolve this?

That is what I am asking - is a stay remaining in place or has Texas actually dropped PP from Medicaid?
@Elderberry

[Elderberry]

But wasn't there a stay issued that prevented Texas from dropping PP from Medicaid until the courts resolve this?

That is what I am asking - is a stay remaining in place or has Texas actually dropped PP from Medicaid?
@Elderberry

It was kicked back down to U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks for him to rule again. Texas can't drop PP yet.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

It was kicked back down to U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks for him to rule again. Texas can't drop PP yet.

so we remain subsidizing as abortion in spite of a law passed by our legislature.

We are not free people.