Planned Parenthood says it will have to shut down if Texas wins lawsuit demanding millions

The state of Texas is suing Planned Parenthood, and the organization argued that it may go out of business if the lawsuit is successful.

"This baseless case is an active effort to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers," said Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The lawsuit alleges that Planned Parenthood wrongfully accepted payment from Medicaid during a time when the state was suing to end those funds.

Texas first notified the abortion provider that it would end Medicaid payments in December 2016. The organization sued and got a federal court to agree with it, which allowed it to continue Medicaid. In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed that ruling, and it was upheld in 2021.

The lawsuit says that Planned Parenthood filed a legal appeal rather than a legislative appeal and argues that all payments accepted by the organization after Feb. 1, 2017, were fraudulent.

Texas is seeking $17 million in reimbursed funds.

Abortion advocates are also angry that the case will be adjudicated by federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who ruled against the Biden administration in April and issued a stay against the sale of the abortion drug mifepristone.

"Who should be in charge of whether you can access needed health care: an extremist MAGA judge, or your doctors and the FDA?" tweeted activist Laura Packard at the time.

The organization could also face a fine for each of the allegedly fraudulent payments under the federal False Claims Act , and Planned Parenthood says that could add up to more than a billion dollars. Defenders of the abortion provider are claiming on social media that the lawsuit could cost up to $1.8 billion.

Here's more about Texas versus Planned Parenthood:

Texas suing Planned Parenthood for millions of dollars | KVUEwww.youtube.com

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