Activists opposing funding for Planned Parenthood demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 2, 2025. ((Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, via Getty))
"Planned Parenthood is facing a repayment obligation of close to $2 billion because it continued to fill its coffers with taxpayers' money even after two states had already disqualified it," Lichter said. "If that obligation stands, it will strike a serious — even existential — blow to Planned Parenthood’s national operations and potentially change the abortion landscape in this country forever."
The case comes after Texas and Louisiana stripped Planned Parenthood affiliates of their Medicaid qualifications in response to activist David Daleiden releasing video footage showing Planned Parenthood staff discussing selling aborted fetal tissue.
Daleiden faced a lawsuit and prosecution for illegally recording the staff, but his footage set off a firestorm in the pro-life movement and caused it to ramp up its efforts to weaken the nonprofit.
Planned Parenthood, however, sued Texas and Louisiana and initially won an injunction that allowed it to keep receiving the Medicaid reimbursements. But the decision was reversed on appeal years later.
SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN MEDICAID FUNDING DISPUTE
A protest sign outside the Supreme Court during the 52nd annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2025. (BRYAN DOZIER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Thursday's oral arguments came after a three-judge panel for the 5th Circuit comprising two Republican-appointed judges and one Democrat-appointed judge sided with Planned Parenthood.
Susan Manning, general counsel for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, blasted the Texas and Louisiana lawsuit as a "politically-motivated" attempt to put the nonprofit out of business.
"This baseless case has only one goal: to shut down Planned Parenthood and deny patients access to sexual and reproductive health care," Manning said in a statement this year. "Planned Parenthood health centers are nonprofits that provide essential, high-quality health care to more than 2 million people nationwide every year."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Separately, pro-life activists made progress in their mission to defund Planned Parenthood this year when Congress voted to strip the nonprofit of Medicaid funding at the federal level for a one-year period.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit sided against Planned Parenthood in a lawsuit over the measure.
Ashley Oliver is a reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business, covering the Justice Department and legal affairs. Email story tips to ashley.oliver@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/appeals-court-hears-high-stakes-case-planned-parenthood-medicaid-funds