Justice Department Takes Over $1.8 Billion Texas Planned Parenthood Fraud Suit
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Nov 7
Justice Department Takes Over $1.8 Billion Texas Planned Parenthood Fraud Suit
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Nov 7
Summary
A Friday court filing put the Justice Department in control of a five-year-old Texas lawsuit accusing Planned Parenthood and its national federation of Medicaid fraud.
The intervention aims to keep the case alive after Texas elected a Democratic attorney general, raising the prospect that the state might otherwise abandon litigation championed by outgoing Republican Ken Paxton.
Texas seeks $1.8 billion in Medicaid reimbursements, interest and penalties, while Planned Parenthood denies wrongdoing and says courts never barred it from collecting payments during the dispute.
Planned Parenthood, which recently reported $2.1 billion in annual revenue, said a loss on that scale could force it to close, underscoring the broader stakes of the federal move.
The step also marks a sharp policy reversal: the Biden Justice Department declined to join the case in 2021, while the Trump administration is now using federal power to sustain it.