FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Matt Hadro
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Human Coalition Action Supports Important Ruling against Planned Parenthood
Nation’s largest abortion provider must return illicit Medicaid funds
AUSTIN, Texas, October 25, 2023 – Human Coalition Action on Wednesday supported a ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk that Planned Parenthood must return stolen Medicaid funds to Texas and Louisiana. The state of Texas filed a $1.8 billion lawsuit seeking recovery for Planned Parenthood’s illegally billing Medicaid, after the state explicitly barred the nation’s largest abortion provider from its Medicaid program.
Judge Kacsmaryk also scheduled a trial in the case for April 2024, to determine whether Planned Parenthood knowingly committed Medicaid fraud.
Chelsey Youman, National Legislative Advisor for Human Coalition Action, issued the following statement:
“We welcome the ruling to hold Planned Parenthood – the nation’s largest abortion provider – accountable to return taxpayer dollars that it never should have received in the first place. Taxpayer dollars must go to life-affirming programs, not death-dealing abortion enterprises.
“Texas dropped Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program because of its horrific practice of harvesting the body parts of aborted babies. As if that wasn’t heinous enough, Planned Parenthood staff admitted in undercover videos that they would alter abortion procedures for women to obtain more intact body parts – potentially causing more pain for the woman by doing so.
“There must be a thorough investigation into how Planned Parenthood received this funding in the first place, including a determination of whether it knowingly committed Medicaid fraud. We trust that a trial will uncover the truth that the people of Texas are entitled to, and we affirm Judge Kacsmaryk for ordering both a return of the funding and a trial in the matter.”
Texas’ divestiture from Medicaid funding of Planned Parenthood came after a 2015 report by pro-life advocates who went undercover at Planned Parenthood abortion facilities across the United States. Inside Planned Parenthood’s labs, they documented the callous disregard for the dignity of babies that takes place behind closed doors in these facilities every day. These advocates also documented rampant disregard for the law among Planned Parenthood leadership, including admissions that they regularly violate federal law by harvesting baby organs and tissues which they sell to procurement companies.
In one video, Planned Parenthood medical director Dr. Deborah Nucatola openly admitted that Planned Parenthood abortionists would alter abortion procedures and commit federally illegal partial-birth abortions with the explicit goal of obtaining intact fetal organs. Nucatola said: “So if you do it [the abortion] starting from the breech presentation, there’s dilation that happens as the case goes on, and often, the last step, you can evacuate an intact calvarium at the end.”
In 2015, a report by Alliance Defending Freedom noted that, during a four-year audit period in New York, “it appeared that hundreds of thousands of abortion‐related claims were billed unlawfully to Medicaid.” The same report noted that, according to 45 audits, Planned Parenthood affiliates had overbilled Title XIX‐Medicaid by nearly $8.5 million.
In 2020, the Small Business Administration notified Planned Parenthood that its affiliates had unlawfully applied for and received more than $80 million in COVID relief loans. Members of Congress had explicitly excluded abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) – a move that the organization itself decried when the program was first created.
About Human Coalition Action
Human Coalition Action is a public policy advocacy organization, advocating for preborn children by assisting governing officials in advancing pro-life policies, informing voters about pro-life candidates, and supporting pro-life legal arguments in the Courts.
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