AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge in Texas who put access to the abortion pill misefpristone in limbo earlier this year presided Tuesday over another potentially groundbreaking case: a state lawsuit seeking to force Planned Parenthood pay back millions of dollars it received through Medicaid.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk did not immediately rule following a hearing in the Texas Panhandle city of Amarillo, where Planned Parenthood has no clinics.
In a brief call with reporters after the hearing, Planned Parenthood representatives said they urged the judge to reject the state’s attempt to recoup years of Medicaid reimbursements and order steep fines that the group says could exceed more than $1 billion.
The Texas attorney general’s office, which filed the lawsuit in 2022, did not respond to messages left Monday, or an additional one seeking comment on Tuesday evening.
The lawsuit is believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S. brought against Planned Parenthood, which over the past decade has repeatedly gone to court in America’s biggest red state as lawmakers there have withdrawn funding and imposed restrictions on clinic operations. But in that time, the state had not previously taken the organization to court over money.
“This really is a meritless case that the judge should not let proceed,” Susan Manning, general counsel for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told reporters following the hearing Tuesday.
She said Kacsmaryk gave no indication on...
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