STATEMENT: Abbott and Paxton Sue to Take Healthcare Away From Texans Who Need it Most   

Nonprofit Planned Parenthood centers followed the law.

Baseless, politically-motivated lawsuit is their latest attack on affordable sexual and reproductive healthcare.

Texas policymakers should help Texans. With a high maternal mortality rate, and nation’s highest uninsured rate, Texas remains a dangerous place to be pregnant.
 

TEXAS – This week a judge with a history of ultra-conservative rulings that reveal a broad hostility to reproductive rights and birth control will hear a meritless and politically-motivated lawsuit against Planned Parenthood. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk recently earned widespread disrepute for his attempt to remove a 20+-year FDA approval of mifepristone, a safe and effective drug used in medication abortions. The lawsuit was forum shopped, filed in a district with no ties to the case.

Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates and the National Planned Parenthood Federation of America followed the law, but this lawsuit is not about the truth—it’s about denying access to healthcare for Texans who need it the most. For many Texans, Planned Parenthood is their only source of healthcare. The truth is that Planned Parenthood centers provide all people, regardless of income, high-quality sexual and reproductive healthcare, including birth control, STI testing and treatment, and cancer screenings.

Texans with low incomes, women, and other marginalized people who already face barriers to healthcare due to racism and discrimination, will be most directly harmed, in the state with the highest percentage of uninsured, and during a shameful maternal health crisis.

"Progress Texas believes in bodily autonomy for all Texans – regardless of the numbers in their zip code or bank account. Today and every day, we are for abortion care, for sex education, for wellness exams, and for the essential high-quality and compassionate care that Planned Parenthood safely and legally provides. Planned Parenthood centers should stay in Texas,” said Kathleen Thompson, executive director at Progress Texas.
 

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