by Ben Johnson
MISSION, TX, November 19, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Planned Parenthood facility in Texas has reopened its doors, thanks to federal taxpayer dollars it has received from the Obama administration.
The office in the Texas border town of Mission threw a reopening celebration on Friday, two years after it closed down.
The facility – which is named after the Rev. Bruce Galloway – gives women referrals for surgical abortions, offers chemical abortions by administering the “morning-after pill,” and performs “LGBT services.”
The Greater Mission Chamber of Commerce asked area residents to join its members as they “celebrate the return of these vital health services in our Mission community!”
The Mission office closed after Texas Governor Rick Perry passed a law forbidding abortion providers from receiving state planning funds. After the Obama administration threatened to withhold all federal money, Governor Perry established an entirely state-funded family planning system whose network is free of abortion providers.
But tn March, the Obama administration did an end-run around that law by directly providing $13 million to the Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas (WHFPT), a coalition including Planned Parenthood.
The Rev. Bruce Galloway Center received $200,000 in federal funding, and $100,000 in private donations, allowing it to go back into business.
The grant came just months before another Texas Planned Parenthood affiliate, Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast, agreed to repay $4.3 million in Medicaid funding that authorities say it defrauded from the U.S. and Texas state governments. Planned Parenthood sources say the allegedly fraudulent practices took place statewide.
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards called the office's rejuvenation “a victory for women's health in Texas and a triumph over the state's mean-spirited politics.”
“Welcome back to Mission, Planned Parenthood of Hidalgo & Starr!” she enthused.
For its part, Planned Parenthood of Hidalgo and Starr counties stated, “We are glad to be back in Mission!”
The state's mostly pro-life citizens had a different reaction. Martin Leal, the coordinator of Pro-Life Brownsville, told the (McAllen, Texas) Monitor he was “saddened” to see the facility reopen.
While once again open, the office's future is far from secured. Due to the Obama administration's extraordinary decision to fund the abortion industry directly, Planned Parenthood would lose funding when a pro-abortion president no longer controls the White House. Natalie San Luis of the Burnt Orange Report, a left-wing website, wrote, “The clinic's future will rely on continued funding from the family planning grant, so Planned Parenthood will have to reapply annually.”
The office will also have less of an impact in the region. Planned Parenthood estimates the Mission location will lose between one-third and one-half of its former clients.
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