This IS an effort to shutdown the organization in Texas ….
The suit has been steered to a Trump appointed Federal judge to boot…..
The suit has been files by a anonymous whistleblower who is part of the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress…
And the group IS Up Front about their goal…..
“This lawsuit was brought with the sole goal of shutting down Planned Parenthood,” the group said in a statement.
The lawsuit stems from a longtime effort by the state to remove Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program. It was filed in Amarillo, a city that does not have a Planned Parenthood clinic, but doing so ensured it would be heard by District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk.
Kacsmaryk, appointed by former President Trump, invalidated the approval of the abortion pill mifepristone earlier this year. Last year, he blocked a federal family planning program that allowed minors to receive birth control without their parents’ consent.
The current lawsuit was brought by an anonymous whistleblower who is part of the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress, which in 2015 released an edited and subsequently debunked video alleging Planned Parenthood providers illegally sold aborted fetal tissue for medical research.
The suit is backed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and alleges Planned Parenthood engaged in Medicaid fraud by continuing to bill the state for health services administered during a period when the organization was fighting an attempt by Texas to cut it off from the state’s Medicaid funds.
Texas is suing under the federal False Claims Act to claw back about $17 million in Medicaid payments, plus more than $1 billion in additional penalties and punitive damages….