--- title: Texas Removing Planned Parenthood From Medicaid description: Texas says it is finalizing plans to defund Planned Parenthood by removing it from the state's Medicaid program. canonical: https://time.com/4609129/texas-defunding-planned-parenthood/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-21T16:25:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:12.012Z og:title: Texas Is Close to Cutting Planned Parenthood Funding og:description: But the organization says it will fight the move og:url: https://time.com/4609129/texas-defunding-planned-parenthood/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda814077360c1446/6988b303656a3f0aa3bce2ae/planned-parenthood-funding-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Orders Increased Security At Planned Parenthood Offices og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Texas Is Close to Cutting Planned Parenthood Funding twitter:description: But the organization says it will fight the move twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda814077360c1446/6988b303656a3f0aa3bce2ae/planned-parenthood-funding-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Texas Is Close to Cutting Planned Parenthood Funding  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Dec 21, 2016 4:25 PM UTC  A Planned Parenthood office is seen on November 30, 2015 in New York City. A gunman killed three people November 27, including a police officer, at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images) A Planned Parenthood office is seen on November 30, 2015 in New York City. A gunman killed three people November 27, including a police officer, at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)Andrew Burton—Getty Images  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Dec 21, 2016 4:25 PM UTC It will now be much harder for low-income women to get health services from Planned Parenthood in Texas. [The Texas _Tribune_ reported](https://www.texastribune.org/2016/12/20/texas-kicks-planned-parenthood-out-medicaid/) that the state is finalizing plans to kick Planned Parenthood out of the state’s Medicaid program in 30 days, meaning that the organization will no longer receive $3.1 million in funding. The [move](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/us/texas-medicaid-cut-planned-parenthood-funding.html?%5Fr=0) could affect up to 11,000 patients, and because [the Hyde Amendment](http://motto.time.com/4608232/congress-letter-donald-trump-hyde-amendment/) blocks federal funding from being used to perform abortions except in certain cases, most of that money is used to provide other healthcare services, including cancer screenings and birth control, for women in the state. “Texans expect that when taxpayer dollars are granted to health care providers, it is only to those who demonstrate that the health and safety of their patients come before a profit motive that puts women at greater risk,” Governor Greg Abbott, who is anti-abortion, said in a statement, [according to the New York _Times_.](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/us/texas-medicaid-cut-planned-parenthood-funding.html?%5Fr=0) The funding cut-off can be delayed if Planned Parenthood requests a hearing with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in the next 15 days. But according to the _Tribune_, the women’s health organization will instead fight the move in court. “Planned Parenthood continues to serve Medicaid patients and will seek a preliminary injunction in an ongoing lawsuit filed in November 2015, following the state’s original threats to take action against Planned Parenthood’s patients,” Yvonne Gutierrez, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, told the _Tribune_. This isn’t the first time Texas has tried to slash funding to Planned Parenthood. In October 2015, the state said it would boot Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid Program following [a controversy around altered videos](http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/19/politics/planned-parenthood-videos/) released by an anti-abortion group that purported to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing using fetal tissue for research. The state cited the videos (which Planned Parenthood said were deceptively edited) and an alleged “pattern of illegal billing practices” among the reasons it was slashing funding to the organization in 2015\. But the plan [was repeatedly delayed](https://www.texastribune.org/2016/10/16/year-later-texas-falls-short-its-vow-defund-planne/). The move will likely face a legal challenge. In 2015, a federal judge in [Louisiana blocked a similar plan](http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2015/10/19/judge-blocks-louisianas-effort-to-ban-planned-parenthood-affiliate-from-medicaid/), saying it would cause Planned Parenthood and its patients “irreparable harm.” \[[The Texas _Tribune_](https://www.texastribune.org/2016/10/16/year-later-texas-falls-short-its-vow-defund-planne/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4609129/texas-defunding-planned-parenthood/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4609129/texas-defunding-planned-parenthood/"},"headline":"Texas Is Close to Cutting Planned Parenthood Funding","datePublished":"2016-12-21T16:25:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:12.012Z","description":"But the organization says it will fight the move","url":"https://time.com/4609129/texas-defunding-planned-parenthood/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda814077360c1446/6988b303656a3f0aa3bce2ae/planned-parenthood-funding-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda814077360c1446/6988b303656a3f0aa3bce2ae/planned-parenthood-funding-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Orders Increased Security At Planned Parenthood Offices","caption":"New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Orders Increased Security At Planned Parenthood Offices","creditText":"Andrew Burton—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4609129/texas-defunding-planned-parenthood/","name":"Texas Is Close to Cutting Planned Parenthood Funding"}}]}] ```