CV NEWS FEED // The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 26 that Planned Parenthood is not required to pay back millions of dollars it defrauded from Medicaid, reversing a lower court ruling.
POLITICO reported that both Texas and Louisiana attempted to remove the local branches of Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs after a whistleblower revealed that the abortion company provided fetal tissue from abortions to researchers in 2015.
During years of litigation to remove Planned Parenthood, the company’s attorneys advised that the Texas and Louisiana branches continue billing Medicaid. Texas ultimately succeeded in removing Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid, but Louisiana did not.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued in 2022 to recover $10 million that he argued Planned Parenthood was not entitled to receive. He also sued for more than $1 billion in damages, according to POLITICO.
“It is unthinkable that Planned Parenthood would continue to take advantage of funding knowing they were not entitled to keep it,” Paxton stated in a news release at the time. “I will not allow them to benefit from this abhorrent conduct after they were caught violating medical standards and lying to law enforcement.”
According to Bloomberg Law, a district court ruled in 2023 in favor of Texas, ordering Planned Parenthood to return millions in Medicaid funds. However, a three-judge panel at the 5th Circuit reversed the previous ruling, stating that the attorneys’ advice to their clients remains protected.
“If private attorneys did not have immunity for their activities within the scope of litigation, they would be subject to suit from a third party every time they represent an unpopular client or advance an unpopular issue,” the judges wrote, according to POLITICO. “It is not difficult to imagine the chilling effect that would have on private attorneys’ willingness to participate in unpopular cases.”
Bloomberg Law reported that Planned Parenthood’s general counsel, Susan Manning, called the lawsuit “politically-motivated.” According to POLITICO, the case will now return to the district court “for further arguments on the remaining claims against the state affiliates.”
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