Texas-Sized Scandal

Planned Parenthood is already facing a congressional investigation, and now the nation’s largest chain of abortion mills has hit another obstacle that will help undermine its legitimacy in the eyes of taxpayers.

Abby Johnson—a good friend of Life Issues Institute and a former Planned Parenthood director— has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the Texas Planned Parenthood affiliate where she once worked.

According to the lawsuit, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast sent close to $6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicaid. They even took steps to manipulate patient charts to hide this fraud from auditors and inspectors. The lawsuit said the organization submitted more than 87,000 reimbursement claims for services that were “false, fraudulent, and/or ineligible” between 2007 and 2009.

Abby, who had system-wide access to patient records and billing activities for almost two years, can testify firsthand that the abortion industry’s corruption runs deep. There’s been a total of 10 facilities in Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast that have submitted fraudulent claims to the Texas Women’s Health Program.

This latest exposes even more of their true colors in being a money-hungry, scorched-earth organization. In their quest to get Medicaid reimbursement for ineligible services, the lawsuit even shows Planned Parenthood bosses admitted to Abby and others that “We must turn every call and visit into a revenue-generating client.”

Here’s perhaps the most revealing and infuriating part of the situation.

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast was required by law to refer pregnant women to doctors or clinics that did not perform, promote or refer for elective abortions. According to Michael J. Norton, one of the Alliance Defense Fund lawyers representing Abby, Planned Parenthood actually referred women to its own abortion mills.

I asked Abby why she’s taking this extraordinary step. She said, “I want to expose their corruption and scandalous practices. American taxpayers deserve to know how their tax money is being spent.”

One week since the lawsuit has been unsealed, neither Planned Parenthood Federation of America nor Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast have answered pressing requests for comment on the matter. They’re running scared and in hiding to avoid being confronted on this Texas-sized scandal.

Even Planned Parenthood’s allies in the Obama Justice Department—the same government bureaucrats that bully peaceful pro-life sidewalk counselors—have refused to chime in on the scandal.

At this point, the crickets are still chirping and the clock is ticking. All the while, pressure mounts on Planned Parenthood to answer for their crimes against humanity.