AUSTIN, Texas _ A federal judge issued a temporary order Thursday blocking Texas officials from ousting Planned Parenthood as a Medicaid health care provider, as planned, on Saturday.
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks didn't rule on the merits of the case, which focused on whether a 2015 undercover video offered sufficient evidence of medical and ethical violations at a Planned Parenthood facility in Houston to oust all Planned Parenthood health clinics from Texas Medicaid.
Instead, the judge closed a three-day hearing in downtown Austin by blocking the organization's removal until Feb. 21, saying he hoped to research and write an opinion by that date.
Sparks gave no indication on how he might rule, but he closely questioned lawyers on both sides during closing arguments Thursday afternoon _ repeatedly pushing them to justify positions and, at one point, wondering aloud how the actions at one clinic could justify closing 29 other Planned Parenthood facilities to Medicaid's low-income patients.
Assistant Attorney General Andrew Stephens said a dozen video clips that were shown in court portrayed officials of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston offering to change abortion procedures to gain better samples for two undercover abortion opponents who were posing as fetal tissue buyers for a medical research company.
Changing abortion procedures to aid researchers violates federal law, medical and ethical standards and the rules for continued participation in Medicaid, Stephens said.
"This video ... is the closest that anyone has ever been to see what goes on inside Planned Parenthood," Stephens said.
Looking at the same video clips, however, Planned Parenthood lawyer Jennifer Sandman said it is clear that the officials were offering to change clinical procedures to identify and preserve desired tissue after the abortion is completed, a legal act.
"There is simply nothing there showing misconduct," Sandman said, calling the state's action politically motivated.
"This is the latest in a long string of attacks against Planned Parenthood in Texas," she told Sparks. "This termination is not based on any problem _ any problem _ with the service these Planned Parenthood organizations provide."
Sparks gave both lawyers one week to comb through the eight hours of video and submit specific clips to bolster their conclusions, noting: "I've heard bits of conversation that can be analyzed in two different ways."
Republican leaders in Texas have made it a priority to eliminate government funding for Planned Parenthood, which operates clinics that provide abortions and vigorously fights to preserve abortion rights.
Last year, the three Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas received a combined $3.5 million in Medicaid reimbursements to provide low-income women with contraceptives, cancer screening, tests for sexually transmitted infections and other health care that didn't include abortions.
Ninety percent of the Medicaid money came from the federal government, with the rest provided by Texas.
In her closing argument, Sandman said dropping Planned Parenthood from Medicaid would have "devastating consequences" for 11,000 low-income Texans, mostly women, who get contraceptives and health care from the organization, which specializes in reproductive health and offers night and weekend hours other clinics don't.
Federal law gives patients the right to choose their own health care provider, Sandman said.
But Stephens said the law pertains to "qualified" providers that offer competent, safe, legal and ethical care. The video showed Planned Parenthood couldn't meet those standards, he told Sparks.
Sandman also said the state was unfairly using video taken at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast's Houston clinic to punish health centers run by two other affiliates _ Planned Parenthood South Texas and Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, which includes Austin.
None of the affiliates share doctors, financing, leadership or clinic ownership, she said.
"What's clear is they're grasping at straws to find any reasonable basis" to oust them from Medicaid, Sandman argued.
But Stephens said state law gives broad latitude to oust any organization that is affiliated with another organization that violates Medicaid rules. All three Texas affiliates are part of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, making all responsible for the Houston clinic's transgressions, he said.
Sparks indicated that the state law will be one area to study before writing his opinion, in addition to the eight hours of video and thousands of pages of evidence, witness statements and exhibits.
"I don't know when we'll be able to get an opinion out," he said.
