The Texas Department of State Health Services on April 2 ordered four clinics in the Planned Parenthood Trust of San Antonio and South Central Texas to stop providing medical abortion services, according to a letter from the department to the 10 members of the Texas Conservative Coalition in the state House, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. These conservative members are threatening to propose cuts to funding for the Planned Parenthood affiliate and alleging that the clinics performed medical abortions without state licenses, the AP/Chronicle reports. State funding for abortion providers is prohibited by law, and the estimated $10 million Planned Parenthood receives from the state annually is limited to clinics that do not offer abortion services, the AP/Chronicle reports. The four clinics that offer medical abortions do not receive state funding, according to Jeffery Hons, CEO of the Planned Parenthood affiliate.

The AP/Chronicle reports that the Texas Conservative Coalition in March requested that the state health department determine whether Planned Parenthood clinics met the state licensing requirements with regard to abortion. After the investigation, four clinics in San Antonio were ordered to stop providing medical abortions, according to a letter the department sent to the coalition on April 2. The clinics have complied with the state's order. Hons said that officials from the four clinics called state licensing offices in 2004 before they began offering medical abortion services and were told that licenses were not required for medical abortion. Hons says he has provided a transcript of the conversation to state auditors. Doug McBride, spokesperson for the department, said that state law requires licenses for facilities offering medical or surgical abortion procedures but that "there may have been a communication problem."

Planned Parenthood officials said that abortion-rights opponents are using the investigation as a launching pad to reduce state funding to the organization. Hons added that the clinics preemptively applied for licenses this January, while new abortion regulations were being discussed, and that they are waiting for the licenses to be processed (Stone, AP/Houston Chronicle, 4/15).

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