NEWS PROVIDED BY
Life Legal Defense Foundation
March 3, 2022

AUSTIN, Texas, March 3, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Heidi Group, Inc., a pro-life pregnancy center network, filed a lawsuit against the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), The Office of Inspector General of HHSC (OIG), and several individuals last week for violations of constitutional and statutory rights and conspiracy. The Heidi Group was founded by former abortionist Carol Everett, who has been instrumental in defunding Planned Parenthood in Texas. Carol and The Heidi Group are represented by Life Legal affiliated attorney Ed Watt.

In 2016, The Heidi Group was invited to apply for state funding through two programs to provide abortion-free women's health services. The program redirected funding that would otherwise have gone to Planned Parenthood and other abortionists. Pro-abortion deep state bureaucrats within the Health and Human Services Commission – the largest of Texas' bureaucracies – discerned an opportunity to strike back at the State's defunding of Planned Parenthood. They hatched a plot to make sure that Carol and The Heidi Group – believed to be the only pro-life organization participating in the programs – failed.

Although Texas is generally recognized as a pro-life state, the lawsuit alleges that these deep-state bureaucrats sought to thwart the will of the legislature and elected officials by discriminating against Carol and The Heidi Group because of their pro-life religious beliefs. According to the lawsuit, the defendants colluded with a former employee of Heidi to access information and documents in Heidi's computers and computer systems without authorization and in violation of Texas and federal laws against such computer intrusions.

The lawsuit further alleges that state officials violated The Heidi Group's constitutional and statutory rights by singling out the organization for disparate treatment. Preliminary reports and statements by various of the defendants implied fraud on the part of The Heidi Group, resulting in the immediate termination of its contracts for the provision of health services to indigent women. These statements have since been thoroughly refuted by the OIG's final audit, but The Heidi Group's contracts have not yet been reinstated. The result is that Carol has had to curtail her services – which, as the lawsuit alleges, was the ultimate goal of the deep-state ideologues behind the scheme.

"Texas may be considered a pro-life state, but I found the Health and Human Services agency to have deep rooted pro-choice beliefs antagonistic to The Heidi Group's ability to serve low-income women with life-affirming health care," stated Carol Everett, Founder of The Heidi Group. "Today hundreds of women that were being served through The Heidi Group's pro-life network, are left without healthcare."

"The abuse endured by Carol Everett at the hands of certain state bureaucrats demonstrates once again that pro-aborts are not about choice or health care," said Life Legal CEO Alexandra Snyder. "They will do anything, including decimating women's health care options, in order to protect their ideology and Planned Parenthood's market share."

Carol Everett is a businesswoman who began her career in the abortion industry and operated several lucrative abortion clinics in Dallas. When she became a Christian, she knew she could no longer profit from the killing of innocent children and dedicated her life to ending abortion. She is now a national pro-life leader and champion for pro-life health care. Carol founded The Heidi Group in 1995, eventually developing a network of pro-life medical centers to offer women meaningful alternatives to Planned Parenthood's abortion-centric model. Life Legal is committed to seeking justice for Carol and The Heidi Group so they can continue to provide quality pro-life health services.

About Life Legal Defense Foundation
Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org.

SOURCE Life Legal Defense Foundation

CONTACT: Alexandra Snyder, 202-717-7371