Allmon, however, told CNA there are alternatives.
"There are hundreds of providers throughout the state of Texas willing to serve poor women with authentic healthcare services that are not also peddling abortion," she said. "The Texas Pregnancy Care Network has a list of such providers throughout the state and if these providers do not accept Medicaid, they can make referrals to life-affirming Medicaid providers who can offer genuine healthcare to women in need."
In January 2020, a Texas women's health program that bars funding for health care providers that perform abortions was approved for federal funding by the Trump administration, making it the first program to receive federal Medicaid funding while excluding abortion providers.
The Healthy Texas Women program was launched in 2007 under the name the Women's Health Program. It served about 173,000 low-income women in 2018. The waiver, approved through December 2024, aimed to fund services for over 200,000 clients a year, the governor's office said before the coronavirus pandemic. Federal funds were set to total about $350 million over five years, while the state was to contribute about $100 million over that time.
The program could face problems under the Biden administration. The Obama administration had refused to renew federal funding for the program because Texas would not fund abortion providers or affiliates. The funds did not go to abortions.
The videos from the Center for Medical Progress resulted in some political and legal action as well as a multi-million dollar public relations campaign from Planned Parenthood and its supporters.
Two bioscience companies in California reached an agreement with the Orange County district attorney's office to admit fault, cease California operations, and meet the terms of a legal settlement close to $7.8 million in value for violating state and federal laws against the purchase or sale of fetal tissue.
The journalists involved in recording the videos have also faced repercussions. In November 2019, a federal court found that the Center for Medical Progress caused "substantial harm" to Planned Parenthood by secretly recording meetings with abortion doctors and staff to expose their business practices. A jury ordered the organization to pay Planned Parenthood $870,000 in punitive damages. The fine was tripled under federal racketeering laws. Combined with compensatory damages, the group must make pay $2 million.
Kevin J. Jones is a senior staff writer with Catholic News Agency. He was a recipient of a 2014 Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship.