Texas Health Officials Cut Funding To Planned Parenthood

Texas health officials recently released a statement saying that the department has cut federal funding to a Houston affiliate of Planned Parenthood for a nearly three-decade-old HIV prevention program.

Republican leaders have been making several efforts to cut funding for Planned Parenthood after an anti-abortion group released videos showing officials of the reproductive health agency negotiating prices for fetal tissues from abortions it performs.

In response to the videos, Planned Parenthood said that the videos were heavily edited. The group denied admitting that it generated any profit from fetal tissue donation.

The inspector general’s office of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a review of how federal officials oversee fetal tissue research.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who initiated the request for the review on Tuesday, said that the audit would cover all fetal tissue research supported by HHS grants and would examine how the agency enforced compliance with relevant federal laws.

Planned Parenthood has denied every allegation saying that few clinics in two states used to accept legally allowed reimbursement for the costs of providing tissue donated by some of its abortion clients.

Ever since the videos were released, Republicans in Congress have a series of investigations of Planned Parenthood. One such investigation includes the one by a House select committee that is expected to extend through the coming year.