Tag Archives: Planned Parenthood

How the tables got turned on the video fraudsters

Posted on January 29, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

A must read. Planned Parenthood’s legal strategy was in some ways similar to how corporations facing major white-collar criminal investigations often cooperate closely with prosecutors to try to influence the outcome. From the start, Planned Parenthood and its Houston lawyer … Continue reading →

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Every investigation on Planned Parenthood has cleared them

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From Think Progress: After a months-long investigation, a Texas grand jury decided not to indict Planned Parenthood on Monday — providing more confirmation that there’s no solid evidence to support the accusations against the national women’s health organization. This trend … Continue reading →

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Grand jury indicts Planned Parenthood video fraudsters

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Sweet. A Harris County grand jury investigating allegations that a Planned Parenthood clinic in Houston illegally sold the tissue of aborted fetuses has cleared the organization of wrongdoing and instead indicted two anti-abortion activists behind the undercover videos that sparked … Continue reading →

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Planned Parenthood sues over those anti-abortion sting videos

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Game on, indeed. Planned Parenthood is suing the people behind the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), the anti-abortion group that released a series of misleading videos this summer claiming that the women’s health organization sells fetal tissue for profit. “The … Continue reading →

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State cuts off funds to Planned Parenthood for HIV testing

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Seriously? Amid an ongoing battle over Planned Parenthood’s participation in the state Medicaid program, Texas health officials are cutting off funding to a Planned Parenthood affiliate for an HIV prevention program. In a notice received by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast … Continue reading →

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The state was full of it all along on Planned Parenthood

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Shocked, shocked I am. Almost two months after Texas Republican leaders announced they would kick Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid, it hasn’t happened. The organization is still receiving federal and state funds to provide health care for about 13,500 low-income … Continue reading →

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The Mexican abortion option, part 3

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Between 100,000 and 240,000 Texans have attempted to terminate their pregnancies without medical assistance, according to new research released Tuesday. Based on interviews and a statewide survey, the unprecedented study by the … Continue reading →

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Planned Parenthood sues Texas

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. Planned Parenthood’s Texas affiliates on Monday filed a federal lawsuit to keep state health officials from booting them from the state’s Medicaid program. Following Texas’ announcement in October that it would stop funding any care for poor … Continue reading →

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Feds warn Texas about Planned Parenthood

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see what happens. The Obama administration has warned state officials that pushing Planned Parenthood out of the state’s Medicaid program could put Texas at odds with federal law. Officials with the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services contacted … Continue reading →

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State goes fishing against Planned Parenthood

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. Days after Texas health officials announced they want to kick Planned Parenthood out of the state Medicaid program, state investigators on Thursday visited Planned Parenthood facilities in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. Investigators with the Texas Health … Continue reading →

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Texas vs Planned Parenthood, part one million

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This was going to happen sooner or later. Texas health officials say they are kicking Planned Parenthood out of the state Medicaid program entirely over what they called “acts of misconduct” revealed in undercover videos filmed earlier this year. Republican … Continue reading →

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Harris County DA to investigate Planned Parenthood clinic here

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I haven’t spent any time writing about the misleading attack videos on Planned Parenthood being put out by yet another shadowy anti-abortion group, so let me dispense with this. Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said Wednesday her office has … Continue reading →

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Off to SCOTUS for HB2

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

If they want to hear it. Abortion is back before the U.S.A Supreme Court, and the justices could signal by the end of June whether they are likely to take up the biggest case on the contentious subject in nearly … Continue reading →

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Let the budgetary games begin

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The House takes up the budget today, with over 300 amendments and riders queued up for votes. A couple of things to watch for as the debate goes on: Killing vouchers. Lawmakers in the Texas House will have a chance … Continue reading →

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State-run Women’s Health Program continues to be a failure

Posted on March 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Quelle surprise. Thousands fewer women are getting health services through the now state-run Women’s Health Program after Planned Parenthood was barred from being a provider. A report released Monday by the state Health and Human Services Commission showed that almost … Continue reading →

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The cost of unplanned pregnancies

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

From Wonkblog: Unintended pregnancies cost American taxpayers $21 billion each year, according to a new analysis released by the Guttmacher Institute. That averages out to a cost of about $366 per every woman of childbearing age in the U.S. Overall, … Continue reading →

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There’s an app for birth control

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure this won’t controversial at all. “Isn’t there an app for that?” Turns out there is, if what you’re after is birth control or a test for a sexually transmitted infection. In the latest example of fast-growing “telemedicine,” video … Continue reading →

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Planned Parenthood comes out swinging

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Good to see. Planned Parenthood’s political arm is embarking on the most aggressive campaign it has ever waged in Texas, with plans to spend $3 million to turn out voters for Democratic candidates including Sens. Wendy Davis for governor and … Continue reading →

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The filibuster one year later

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

It still resonates. And I believe it will continue to resonate for a lot longer. The thousands of Texans whose screaming protest of anti-abortion legislation brought the Capitol to a standstill June 25 will mark the one-year anniversary much more … Continue reading →

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Planned Parenthood petitions Fifth Circuit for en banc review of HB2 ruling

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Today, Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas filed a petition on behalf of their patients to request that the full bench of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals consider the constitutionality of harmful abortion restrictions that were struck down … Continue reading →

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Another lawsuit against HB2 to be filed

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

If at first you don’t succeed… Less than a week after a federal court upheld two new Texas abortion requirements already in effect, abortion providers announced plans to file a second lawsuit targeting additional regulations that the Republican-led Legislature passed … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit does its thing again

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

There was never any doubt. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld the new abortion regulations that were passed in July by the Republican-led Texas Legislature. The plaintiffs, who represent the majority of abortion providers in Texas, including four … Continue reading →

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The Texas Future Project

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Very interesting. High-powered Democrats from Texas and California have joined with national labor unions in an effort to mobilize out-of-state donors and raise millions of dollars to build a progressive majority in the Lone Star State that could change state … Continue reading →

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Cookiecott 2014

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Hissyfit 2014 might be a more accurate description. A coalition of anti-abortion groups is trying to crumble Girl Scout cookie sales because of a Twitter post of an online news article that recognized several accomplished women, including gubernatorial hopeful Wendy … Continue reading →

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Where are the women’s health providers?

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Republican jihad against Planned Parenthood continues to have real consequences. In 2011, under pressure from Republican leaders, state health officials began enforcing a provision lawmakers wrote to exclude Planned Parenthood and any clinics with organizational ties to abortion providers … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit pretends to hear HB2 appeal

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

We’re all sure what their decision will be, right? Appellate judges on Monday challenged lawyers over provisions of Texas’ new abortion law and whether they have unduly caused the closure of about a dozen abortion clinics. The three-judge panel of … Continue reading →

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HHSC publishes rules relating to HB2

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

HHSC is all in on the omnibus anti-abortion bill passed during the special session this summer. Texas health officials have a message for the more than 19,000 folks who wrote in to oppose new abortion regulations: Each individual commenter failed … Continue reading →

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Abortion providers petition SCOTUS for injunction review

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see what happens. Abortion providers on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a lower federal court’s injunction that blocked Texas from implementing strict new abortion rules. “Right now, women in vast swaths of Texas are being turned … Continue reading →

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No action from Fifth Circuit yet

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

HB2 is still enjoined. The Texas attorney general’s office is seeking an emergency stay, asking the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel’s ruling against abortion regulations in House Bill 2. Beginning Tuesday, abortion … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit against abortion restrictions goes to trial

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. Seeking to block the state of Texas from implementing new abortion regulations, plaintiffs representing abortion providers argued Monday in a federal court that the state’s law violates the constitutional right of women to access the procedure. But … Continue reading →

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First lawsuit filed over abortion restrictions

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The next stage in abortion rights advocates’ efforts to block implementation of strict new regulations on the procedure in Texas began on Friday, as the Center for Reproductive Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union and a group of abortion … Continue reading →

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Restricting abortion has always been about restricting abortion

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Claims that it’s about “protecting women” have always been baloney. In their successful push this summer for strict new regulations on abortion facilities and the doctors performing them, proponents of the legislation said it was needed because conditions at existing … Continue reading →

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Feds provide money to help sign people up for the exchanges

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Every little bit helps. With the rollout of many Affordable Care Act provisions fast approaching, the federal government announced Thursday that eight Texas organizations will receive a combined $10.8 million to hire and train “navigators” to help uninsured Texans find … Continue reading →

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A reduction in funding for women’s health leads to fewer women getting health care

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Shocking, I know. The number of claims filed for medical and family planning services in the new state-run Texas Women’s Health Program has dropped since the state ousted Planned Parenthood from it and set up its own program without federal … Continue reading →

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