The federal government will withdraw funding for a Texas program providing more than 100,000 poor women with birth control and other health services because Planned Parenthood clinics are not allowed to participate, a U.S. Health and Human Services spokeswoman said on Friday.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the decision in Houston on Friday, prompting a furious response from Texas Governor Rick Perry, who called it an "egregious federal overreach."
The Texas legislature last year voted to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood because the network of women's health clinics performs abortions. The federal government says that this violates rules of Medicaid, the health program for the poor.
Wisconsin, North Carolina, Tennessee and Indiana all have joined Texas trying to block Planned Parenthood from receiving taxpayer money in the last year. Several other states, including Ohio, Oklahoma and New Hampshire, are considering similar moves.
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