It has long been said, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Yesterday, thanks to a decision issued from a federal judge in Texas, justice has again been denied to the most vulnerable among us – the unborn.

In the case titled Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas Family Planning v. Smith, Judge Sam Sparks for the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a decision blocking Texas state health officials from denying taxpayer funding through Medicaid to Planned Parenthood – the largest abortion business in America.

Last December, Texas state officials announced a final notice of intention to cut Medicaid funding given to Planned Parenthood. The decision to cut Planned Parenthood’s funding in Texas was first made in 2015, after the Center for Medical Progress released a series of undercover videos revealing the abhorrent practices and policies of Planned Parenthood’s handling of aborted fetal tissue. The ACLJ continues to represent a former board member of the Center for Medical Progress in multiple lawsuits brought against them by the abortion industry. In response to Texas’s decision to defund the abortion giant, Planned Parenthood sued.

Astonishingly, Judge Sparks dismissed the abhorrent evidence uncovered by the Center for Medical Progress – and the basis for the state’s decision to revoke funding – writing:

A secretly recorded video, fake names, a grand jury indictment, congressional investigations – these are the building blocks of a best-selling novel rather than a case concerning the interplay of federal and state authority through the Medicaid program. Yet, rather than a villain plotting to take over the world, the subject of this case is the State of Texas’s efforts to expel a group of healthcare providers from a social healthcare program for families and individuals with limited resources.

The issue before the court was whether Planned Parenthood could be granted a preliminary injunction blocking Texas’s decision to withhold taxpayer funding from the abortion industry – essentially, whether Planned Parenthood could offer enough evidence at this preliminary stage to show that they would likely succeed in the case as a whole. That injunction now temporarily stops Texas at this preliminary stage from proceeding with their efforts to take away Planned Parenthood’s funding.

The court agreed with Planned Parenthood, determining that “because the Individual Plaintiffs in this case would be deprived of their legal right to the qualified healthcare provider of their choice,” unless the preliminary injunction is granted, the plaintiffs would “suffer an irreparable injury.”

In short, the Court finds the Inspector General did not have any factual support to conclude the bases of termination set forth in the Final Notice merited finding the Plaintiff Providers were not qualified. Rather, in light of the current record, it appears the termination decision had nothing to do with the Provider Plaintiffs’ qualifications. As a result, the Court finds the Individual Plaintiffs met their burden of proof showing a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their claim . . . .

These claims become even more spurious once one realizes that Federal Qualified Health Centers are both more numerous and provide more health care services for women and children than Planned Parenthood.

In response to the news of the ruling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that the state would appeal the judge’s order, noting that “[n]o taxpayer in Texas should have to subsidize this repugnant and illegal conduct.”

The ACLJ will continue to follow this case and the appeal of this disappointing order, as our pro-life legal team prepares to file an amicus brief supporting the State of Texas. Additionally, much is being done in the fight for life right now, here at the ACLJ and elsewhere, including in the United States Congress and by President Trump and his Administration. The time to defund this pro-death organization is now, and further delays only serve to further deny justice for the unborn, the vulnerable women caught in Planned Parenthood’s snare, and the American taxpayer.