AUSTIN, Texas _ Despite Thursday evening's federal appeals court ruling in Texas' favor, Planned Parenthood remains a state Medicaid provider, at least for now.
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction that had blocked Texas officials from ousting Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, a federal-state program that provides health care to low-income people.
Once the appeals court issues its mandate to enforce the ruling on Feb. 8, Planned Parenthood will be terminated as a Medicaid provider, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office said Friday.
Before that happens, Planned Parenthood can delay action by asking the appeals court to reconsider its ruling or by filing a motion to stay the mandate. The organization also can seek a new injunction or temporary restraining order from a federal judge in Austin.
The appeals court returned the case to Austin federal court for a new decision, saying U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks applied the wrong legal standard when he ruled in February 2017 that Texas improperly excluded Planned Parenthood as a Medicaid provider.
Yvonne Gutierrez, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, said the organization is weighing its options.
"The panel has sent the case back to the district court, and we're evaluating all our options for seeking further relief there. This is not a loss on the merits. Although we are disappointed in the ruling, the 5th Circuit panel said the district court applied the wrong legal standard. The preliminary injunction remains in effect for three weeks."
The disagreement focused on an undercover video shot in 2015 by abortion opponents at a Planned Parenthood facility in Houston.
State health officials moved to exclude all 30 Planned Parenthood health clinics from Texas Medicaid, saying the video showed clinic officials agreeing to change how abortions were performed to better obtain fetal organs and tissue for use in medical research. Such changes would violate federal law and accepted medical practices while putting women at risk, the officials said.
But Sparks said the video, shot by abortion opponents posing as specialists in tissue procurement for medical research, featured a research director who had no personal knowledge of abortion procedures and who repeatedly referred specific questions to Planned Parenthood's abortion doctors. Texas officials presented no evidence that a Planned Parenthood doctor altered any medical procedures, the judge ruled.
Sparks also dismissed allegations that the video showed a willingness to profit from procuring fetal tissue, saying Texas officials could produce no evidence that the organization violated federal laws that allow only direct expenses to be reimbursed for research-related tissue.
"Specifically, the inspector general could not point to a single payment (Planned Parenthood) ever received that exceeded its expenses incurred," he wrote.
In Thursday's ruling, however, the federal appeals court said Sparks improperly considered evidence presented by Planned Parenthood during a three-day trial.
A state agency's decision to terminate a Medicaid provider as unqualified should be reviewed only on the record that was presented to state officials who made the decision, the appeals court said. In addition, that decision can be overturned only if a district judge determines that it was arbitrary and capricious _ a difficult standard to meet, the court said.
