A Planned Parenthood facility in Minneapolis. / Credit: Ken Wolter/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 25, 2025 / 18:23 pm (CNA).

A $1.8 billion lawsuit brought by an anonymous activist and the state of Texas is seeking to recover money they say Planned Parenthood illegally took from Medicaid.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Thursday in the case, Doe v. Planned Parenthood.

When Planned Parenthood was exposed for selling fetal tissue and organs, Louisiana and Texas quickly moved to revoke the organization’s Medicaid eligibility. Court orders delayed the revocation.

As the courts debated Planned Parenthood’s eligibility, the group continued to make Medicaid reimbursement claims despite the uncertain status until 2020, when the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the states. 

In a lawsuit filed in 2021, a whistleblower sued Planned Parenthood under the False Claims Act. Designed to protect taxpayer dollars from fraudulent actors, the False Claims Act requires that “any person who knowingly submits, or causes to submit, false claims to the government is liable for three times the government’s damages plus a penalty that is linked to inflation,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice website. 

Pro-life leader and legal expert Jennie Bradley Lichter called the case an “existential threat” to Planned Parenthood in an opinion piece for The Hill.

Lichter, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, wrote that “under the False Claims Act, money obtained from the government while ineligible — even if collected under a court order that is later overturned — must be repaid in full.”

Susan Baker Manning, general counsel for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, denied that the legal theory has any merit. 

“This theory is yet another effort to weaponize the law to attack Planned Parenthood,” Manning said in a statement on Wednesday. “This case has one goal: to shut down Planned Parenthood and deny patients access to sexual and reproductive health care.”

Katie Glenn Daniel, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s director of legal affairs, said Planned Parenthood “had no right” to the taxpayer money. 

“The whistleblower in this case, Doe, is suing on behalf of the people to recover taxpayer dollars Planned Parenthood had no right to take and still has not voluntarily paid back, plus fees and interest,” Glenn Daniel told CNA.

“The nation’s largest abortion business felt so entitled to taxpayer money, it spent years billing Medicaid after being disqualified by Texas and Louisiana — a direct result of their disregard for human life exposed by David Daleiden’s undercover videos showing their role in the sale of baby body parts,” Glenn Daniel said. 

As part of a recently enacted tax package, the federal government cut Planned Parenthood funding. More than 40 locations are closing this year. The New York Times reported alleged medical negligence at New York-based Planned Parenthood locations earlier this year. 

“Despite reports of medical negligence, declines in actual health services, and record political spending, Planned Parenthood demands the taxpayer faucet stay flowing forever,” Glenn Daniel said.