AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ longtime effort to end Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood is on hold again after a judge Wednesday blocked the state from moving ahead for now.
Planned Parenthood says more than 8,000 low-income residents would lose access to non-abortion health services at its clinics if Texas succeeds.
The temporary restraining order issued by state District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble was handed down as the state planned to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program starting this week. A court hearing is now set for later this month.
Opponents of legal abortion have long sought to deny federal Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood clinics.
A federal appeals court ruled last year that Texas could remove Planned Parenthood from the program. Planned Parenthood now claims the state has not followed the proper procedure to do so.
