Planned Parenthood, America’s abortion industry giant, already is contending with what some have called an existential threat to its future because Congress adopted a law withholding federal Medicaid funds – hundreds of millions of dollars a year – from the abortionists.
Planned Parenthood actually went to court over that law, claiming it now has a constitutional right to be paid taxpayer money.
It has complained that it will have to shut down some of its abortion business locations if it doesn’t take tax money to keep them open.
But there’s also another threat, and this one, in the race to be an “existential threat,” is far and away ahead.
According to a report in the National Catholic Register a court case accuses Planned Parenthood of taking hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers that it was not allowed to take.
It was an anonymous activist, and the state of Texas, that brought the claim the abortionists improperly took money from Medicaid.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Thursday in the case, which is titled Doe v. Planned Parenthood, and a decision could come soon.
“When Planned Parenthood was exposed for selling fetal tissue and organs, Louisiana and Texas quickly moved to revoke the organization’s Medicaid eligibility. Court orders delayed the revocation. As the courts debated Planned Parenthood’s eligibility, the group continued to make Medicaid reimbursement claims despite the uncertain status until 2020, when the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the states,” the report documented.
The lawsuit, from 2021, comes under the False Claims Act which requires “any person who knowingly submits, or causes to submit, false claims to the government is liable for three times the government’s damages plus a penalty that is linked to inflation.”
Jennie Bradley Lichter, chief of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, told the publication that taking money from the government “while ineligible” must be “repaid in full.”
Planned Parenthood lawyer Susan Baker Manning said there’s no grounds for the abortionists to worry.
“This case has one goal: to shut down Planned Parenthood and deny patients access to sexual and reproductive health care,” she said.
The problem, however, is that, according to Katie Glenn Daniel of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, “The whistleblower in this case, Doe, is suing on behalf of the people to recover taxpayer dollars Planned Parenthood had no right to take and still has not voluntarily paid back, plus fees and interest.”
She said Planned Parenthood for years after being disqualified continued billing Medicaid in Texas and Louisiana and taking the cash.
The Hill reported, “Planned Parenthood’s access to tax dollars has also been limited by the Supreme Court ruling in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which upheld states’ authority to decide whether abortion providers qualify for Medicaid reimbursements.
“Against this backdrop, the under-the-radar case of U.S. ex rel. Doe v. Planned Parenthood represents an existential threat to Planned Parenthood. Now, Planned Parenthood could be on the hook for treble damages, civil penalties, interest and legal fees, pushing its total potential liability in the pending case past $1.8 billion — a financial catastrophe for the abortion giant.
It actually could “hasten its end.”