AUSTIN, Texas - State health investigators visited several Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas on Thursday as the state moves to halt Medicaid funding to the organization, which has been repeatedly targeted by top Texas conservatives.

Planned Parenthood said investigators asked for health and billing records, along with other records, from its clinics in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, and a health center in Brownsville, a town along the Mexico border.

Investigators showed up "looking for an excuse to take health care away from thousands of women and men who rely on Planned Parenthood for preventive care -- but what they will see is professional, compassionate and quality health care," Yvonne Gutierrez, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Texas Votes political action committee, said in a statement.

"Despite their efforts to distort the truth, health care -- no matter what -- is what happens at Planned Parenthood," she said.

A spokesman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission declined comment. The agency's investigative arm said it could not "provide comment on any oversight or investigative activities."

The visits came three days after Texas health officials sent a lengthy letter to Planned Parenthood clinics statewide saying they were being kicked out of the joint state-federal Medicaid program. That will likely set off a legal fight similar to one in neighboring Louisiana, where Planned Parenthood -- which doesn't offer abortions in Louisiana -- filed a lawsuit to stop the same severing of Medicaid funding there.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state health officials to investigate after anti-abortion activists released undercover videos they allege show Planned Parenthood officials talking about the illegal sale of fetal tissue for profit. One of the videos was filmed at a Planned Parenthood in Houston. An investigation also is ongoing in Congress.

Planned Parenthood has denied the claims, saying the videos were deceptively edited. It also notes six states that investigated in the wake of the videos found nothing.

In Texas, health officials alleged that Planned Parenthood had misused Medicaid funding by scheduling abortions so as to best procure fetal tissue for medical research. Planned Parenthood provides abortion at some clinics, but also medical services that include cancer screenings and health exams to thousands of Texans.

This year, Texas Planned Parenthood clinics have received more than $3 million in Medicaid funding, but 90 percent of that comes from the federal government.

The group's Texas affiliates have 30 days to respond to efforts to remove it from the Medicaid program. Planned Parenthood has vowed to fight to keep its operations going -- but so far has yet to sue in an attempt to do so.

Gutierrez dismissed Thursday's actions as "Governor Abbott's political grandstanding."

Abbott spokesman John Wittman said the governor's office didn't plan to comment beyond a statement it issued Monday, when the governor hailed cutting off Medicaid funding.

"Texas has stepped forward and shown its unyielding commitment to both protecting life and providing women's health services," he said in Monday's statement.

In Louisiana, GOP presidential candidate and Gov. Bobby Jindal previously ordered his state to remove Planned Parenthood from Medicaid in the wake of the undercover videos. Planned Parenthood sued, arguing that Louisiana can't end funding for non-abortion services, and a judge ordered the state on Monday to provide Medicaid funding for at least two more weeks.



Copyright 2015 by Click2Houston.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.