New Texas rules ban links to abortion providers

Texas will recreate its Women's Health Program under new rules if a court allows Planned Parenthood to participate, the state's top health official said Thursday.

Announced by Dr. Kyle Janek, the new rules will ban abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood from offering healthcare through the program.

The rules echo a 2011 Texas law prohibiting state funding for groups that provide abortions. 

"If they prevail in the court, and in that case, the court says you have to include Planned Parenthood, then yes, [the program] goes away," Janek said Thursday.

That 2011 law has been at the center of a prolonged court battle between Texas and Planned Parenthood clinics in the state that do not offer abortion procedures.

Those clinics have argued in court that by excluding them as providers under the Women's Health Program, the law violates their freedom to associate — in this case, with Planned Parenthood clinics that do provide abortions.

Texas argues that taxpayer dollars need not go to any group that carries out abortions in some clinics.

The new program, set to begin Nov. 1, will offer contraception, health screenings and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases.

It operates using only Texas dollars. The previous version was 90 percent funded by the federal government, according to reports.

Read more from Reuters and The Associated Press.