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OBAMA ADMINISTRATION BLOCKS
TEXAS LAW DEFUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD
December 22, 2011 – On December 12, 2011, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
denied Texas’ request to exclude abortion providers and promoters from participating in Texas’ Women’s
Health Program which receives Medicaid funds. According to Joe Pojman, director of the Texas Alliance
for Life, Planned Parenthood is the only entity that would be excluded by the state from the program.
A Texas law passed in the summer of 2011 prohibits money spent for the Texas Women’s Health Program
from going to “entities that perform or promote elective abortions or affiliate with entities that perform or
promote elective abortions.”
According to Pojman, the state law excludes dozens of Planned Parenthood sites from the Women's Health
Program, but it does not exclude any of the other hundreds of Women's Health Program providers in Texas.
Many of the other providers, Pojman says, offer, in addition to family planning, comprehensive primary and
preventive care to low-income women, which Planned Parenthood does not provide. According to Pojman,
millions of tax dollars would be denied to Planned Parenthood under the state law.
Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, said in her December 12 letter that
Section 1902(a)(23)(A) of the Social Security Act provides that Medicaid beneficiaries may obtain covered
services from any qualified provider willing to undertake the service.
“The issue here,” Cindy Mann said according to the Texas Tribune, “is . . . whether the state can restrict
access to a qualified health provider simply because they provide other services Medicaid doesn’t pay for.”
Federal law prohibits Medicaid funds from paying for abortions.
But Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an official opinion in February, 2011, asserting that federal
Medicaid law does allow states to exclude certain providers. Abbott cited a case in which the federal First
Circuit court of appeals found that federal law “permit[s] a state to exclude an entity from its Medicaid
program for any reason established by state law.”
According to the Liberty Institute, a non-profit Constitutional rights advocacy group, the Center for
Medicaid and CHIP Services has also denied requests by New Hampshire and Indiana to defund Planned
Parenthood.
According to the Texas Tribune, Cindy Mann said the federal agency would extend Texas’ existing Women’
s Health Program through March while state and federal officials try to determine how to proceed.
Gov. Rick Perry, who signed the defunding legislation, told the Texas Tribune the Obama administration is
“sacrificing the health of millions of Texas women in the name of their pro-abortion agenda.”
TEXAS LAW DEFUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD
December 22, 2011 – On December 12, 2011, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
denied Texas’ request to exclude abortion providers and promoters from participating in Texas’ Women’s
Health Program which receives Medicaid funds. According to Joe Pojman, director of the Texas Alliance
for Life, Planned Parenthood is the only entity that would be excluded by the state from the program.
A Texas law passed in the summer of 2011 prohibits money spent for the Texas Women’s Health Program
from going to “entities that perform or promote elective abortions or affiliate with entities that perform or
promote elective abortions.”
According to Pojman, the state law excludes dozens of Planned Parenthood sites from the Women's Health
Program, but it does not exclude any of the other hundreds of Women's Health Program providers in Texas.
Many of the other providers, Pojman says, offer, in addition to family planning, comprehensive primary and
preventive care to low-income women, which Planned Parenthood does not provide. According to Pojman,
millions of tax dollars would be denied to Planned Parenthood under the state law.
Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, said in her December 12 letter that
Section 1902(a)(23)(A) of the Social Security Act provides that Medicaid beneficiaries may obtain covered
services from any qualified provider willing to undertake the service.
“The issue here,” Cindy Mann said according to the Texas Tribune, “is . . . whether the state can restrict
access to a qualified health provider simply because they provide other services Medicaid doesn’t pay for.”
Federal law prohibits Medicaid funds from paying for abortions.
But Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an official opinion in February, 2011, asserting that federal
Medicaid law does allow states to exclude certain providers. Abbott cited a case in which the federal First
Circuit court of appeals found that federal law “permit[s] a state to exclude an entity from its Medicaid
program for any reason established by state law.”
According to the Liberty Institute, a non-profit Constitutional rights advocacy group, the Center for
Medicaid and CHIP Services has also denied requests by New Hampshire and Indiana to defund Planned
Parenthood.
According to the Texas Tribune, Cindy Mann said the federal agency would extend Texas’ existing Women’
s Health Program through March while state and federal officials try to determine how to proceed.
Gov. Rick Perry, who signed the defunding legislation, told the Texas Tribune the Obama administration is
“sacrificing the health of millions of Texas women in the name of their pro-abortion agenda.”