A senior official at the Texas Medical Board resigned following intense pressure from far-right state lawmakers.
As the year came to a close, State Reps. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, and Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, voiced strong objections to Medical Director Robert Bredt’s past employment with Planned Parenthood, asserting that Texas “should be leading the fight against Planned Parenthood—not hiring its former employees.”
Bredt, who had served in his role since 2012, submitted his retirement paperwork and left the agency on January 7, according to Texas Medical Board spokesperson Spencer Miller-Payne.
The Texas Medical Board, responsible for regulating medical practice in the state, confirmed Bredt’s departure but declined to provide further comment to The Houston Chronicle.
The controversy erupted when Harrison and Cain highlighted Bredt’s tenure as medical director of the Planned Parenthood South Texas Laboratory in San Antonio. Harrison took to social media, labeling Bredt’s employment as “insanity” and demanding immediate action.
“Respectfully asking Gov. Abbott to have all Planned Parenthood officials removed from state agencies, especially the one regulating healthcare as Medical Director of Texas Medical Board,” Harrison wrote. Meanwhile, Cain escalated the campaign with a letter to the Texas Medical Board just before the year’s end, urging Bredt’s termination and denouncing Planned Parenthood as “a criminal enterprise that profits off killing babies.”
Harrison then threatened the board, proposing to file legislation that would defund them unless Bredt was removed. His tactics included daily calls to the board, repeated social media posts, and circulating an online petition, which doubled as a political ad.
On January 10, Harrison declared victory on social media, writing, “WE WON! Grateful for everyone who joined the call to end this insanity after we exposed it 10 days ago.”
Texas currently has some of the strictest abortion laws in the United States, banning the procedure at all stages of pregnancy except when the patient faces a life-threatening condition or risk of severe impairment. The laws do not allow exceptions for rape, incest, or severe fetal abnormalities.
Other current attacks on Planned Parenthood include Rep. Chip Roy’s, R-Texas, recent inquiry into the University of Texas’ allocation of federal grant money to Planned Parenthood of Illinois. In a letter to UT’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work, Roy criticized the partnership, citing Planned Parenthood’s provision of free abortions and gender-affirming care, including for minors. Roy requested detailed information about the university’s funding agreements with Planned Parenthood and questioned their compliance with Texas laws, such as Senate Bill 14, which bans the use of public funds for gender-affirming procedures for minors.
