TOPEKA, May 4, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The state of Kansas has officially notified Planned Parenthood that it will no longer be eligible for Medicaid funding.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment notified Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri that it would strike the abortion provider from its list of Medicaid providers, effective May 10.
The letter, delivered on Tuesday, cited undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress related to human organ trafficking. Officials previously mentioned a “lack of cooperation” when state inspectors wanted to search the waste of Planned Parenthood's Overland Park office last December.
“This is an outrageous attempt by Governor Brownback to punish the women and men who have freely chosen Planned Parenthood for their health care for decades,” said the affiliate's CEO, Laura McQuade, in a statement.
According to the ACLU, the state cut ties with a total of 10 current or former Planned Parenthood personnel.
The Obama administration's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may intervene, as it has in other states. CMS has warned states that defunding Planned Parenthood violates federal statutes and threatened to reduce Medicaid funding to states that persist.
“If people were truly concerned about reducing the number of abortions they would be enhancing funding for entities like Planned Parenthood,” said Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka.
But pro-life advocates say that, by funding any of Planned Parenthood's activities, taxpayers help keep the nation's largest abortion provider in business.
Planned Parenthood officials have said they receive $61,000 a year from the Medicaid program.
That comes in addition to $370,000 a year the state has deprived Planned Parenthood by reprioritizing Title X family planning funds away from Planned Parenthood. State legislators made that decision permanent by passing S.B. 436 on Sunday. Kansans for Life had testified on its behalf.
Removing taxpayers' money from the abortion provider's revenue stream was important to Governor Sam Brownback, a pro-life Republican.
In his State of the State address in January he said he would “ensure that not a single dollar of taxpayer money goes to Planned Parenthood,” saying, “Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of baby body parts is antithetical to our belief in human dignity.”
“This is not over,” McQuade said. “We’ll fight this with everything we’ve got.”