A $1.8 billion lawsuit brought by an anonymous activist and the state of Texas is seeking to recover money they say Planned Parenthood illegally took from Medicaid.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Thursday in the case, Doe v. Planned Parenthood.
When Planned Parenthood was exposed for selling fetal tissue and organs, Louisiana and Texas quickly moved to revoke the organization’s Medicaid eligibility. Court orders delayed the revocation.
As the courts debated Planned Parenthood’s eligibility, the group continued to make Medicaid reimbursement claims despite the uncertain status until 2020, when the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the states.
In a lawsuit filed in 2021, a whistleblower sued Planned Parenthood under the False Claims Act. Designed to protect taxpayer dollars from fraudulent actors, the False Claims Act requires that “any person who knowingly submits, or causes to submit, false claims to the government is liable for three times the government’s damages plus a penalty that is linked to inflation,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice website.
Pro-life leader and legal expert Jennie Bradley Lichter called the case an “existential threat” to Planned Parenthood in an opinion piece for The Hill.
Lichter, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, wrote that “under the False Claims Act, money obtained from the government while ineligible — even if collected under a court order that is later overturned...
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