Commentary

An amicus brief was filed yesterday by 77 members of Congress in a landmark case before the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The case involves a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood against the State of Texas because it has been disqualified by that state from receiving Medicaid funds.

Senator Jim Risch and Congressman Russ Fulcher are among those represented in the brief by legal counsel from Americans United for Life.

In the brief, the members of Congress argue that the states have broad and shared authority under the Medicaid program to operate the health care system within their borders. Congress recognizes the sovereignty of the states as partners in the program, the brief argues, with the right to disqualify providers it deems unfit.

And that is exactly the authority Texas exercised when it chose to exclude Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program as a “qualified provider”.

This is a landmark case because Planned Parenthood has been quite successful in pushing federal courts over the past decade into defending their “right” to taxpayer monies – especially under Medicaid and Title X. Such edicts have trampled upon States’ rights and placed legislators and taxpayers in the untenable position of choosing between helping low-income neighbors with health care costs and financing the Abortion Industry.

We applaud Risch and Fulcher for fighting this insidious trend in federal courts.