Thanks to a cut in taxpayer funding, the Planned Parenthood abortion business has announced it will close one of its abortion clinics, that operates in Abilene, Texas.
Planned Parenthood of West Central Texas announced it is closing the Abilene clinic, which gives out the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug that has claimed the lives of dozens of women and injured thousands more, on November 9. Women will be sent to the nearby San Angelo Heath Center, which provides women with legitimate medical care and not abortions.
“We share the concern of community members about what the long term consequences of Texas’ cuts to family planning funding will mean,” said Carla Holeva, interim CEO of Planned Parenthood of West Texas, according to a report in the Reporter-News.
Last year, the abortion business closed as many as 12 locations following the end of the 82ndlegislative special session, which dealt the abortion industry a $64.2 million blow.
In August, in a major victory, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans lifted a federal judge’s temporary injunction preventing the state of Texas from de-funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
The court ruled Texas can cut off funding for Planned Parenthood within its women’s health services program because Planned Parenthood is an abortion business.
Recently, a panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court overturned an appeals judge’s decision [that allowed Planned Parenthood to continue receiving funding]. The panel ruled the law Texas approved last year to prohibit abortion facilities from taking part in the program to protect taxpayers from funding abortion facilities is [constitutional].
Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith agreed to overturn the stay he recently issued allowing the state to keep the funding ban in place.
Texas officials appealed the decision to the full appeals court and have already said they will be forced to shut down the program if Planned Parenthood wins its lawsuit to force the state to fund the abortion company.
Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against Texas contending that the new law prohibiting it from participating in the Women’s Health Program is unconstitutional discrimination. The lawsuit asked the court for an injunction to stop enforcement of the rules preventing Planned Parenthood from getting taxpayer funding via the program , saying the rules violate their rights by putting an “unconstitutional condition on their participation” in the Women’s Health Program.
The lawsuit also alleges the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which is enforcing the rule, “overstepped its authority in adopting a rule that conflicts with the purpose of the laws that created the program.”
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Federal District Judge Lee Yeakel initially ruled in favor of nine Planned Parenthood affiliates — giving them a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the law and requiring the state to continue funding the abortion business until the lawsuit is fully adjudicated.
However, state officials quickly appealed the ruling — with Attorney General Greg Abbott filing an emergency motion for stay in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Jerry E. Smith granted the stay “pending further order of this court” and requested a response from the abortion business by the close of business today.
Since the program began in 2005, Planned Parenthood — America’s largest abortion business — has disproportionately consumed 40 percent of the program’s budget. Although the rule banning abortion businesses has been part of the Women’s Health Program from the very beginning, it had not been enforced until 2011 when state lawmakers reaffirmed their commitment to keeping tax dollars out of the abortion industry.
In response, President Obama withdrew all federal support for the program, and Planned Parenthood sued the state of Texas. Judge Lee Yeakel blocked the law from going into effect, yet Yeakel’s ruling was appealed by Attorney General Greg Abbott, and the Fifth Circuit Court removed the block.
In addition to these approximately 4,000 agencies, Governor Perry’s office has identified another 2,500 eligible providers with 4,600 locations across the state. Planned Parenthood runs 69 facilities.
