Texas medical board director departs after being outed as Planned Parenthood employee
The medical director of the Texas state board that oversees medical regulation and licensing is stepping aside after it became public that he is a Planned Parenthood employee.
Dr. Robert Bredt submitted his retirement paperwork Tuesday, his last day of work, a spokesperson for the medical board told The Associated Press. The 62-year-old served as the state's medical director since 2012, overseeing the regulation and licensing of medical professionals across Texas. He earned an annual salary of $185,000, AP reports.
According to his resume, which recently surfaced in a court filing, Bredt had been affiliated with Planned Parenthood South Texas since 2011, in addition to working with other medical laboratories, including Genics Laboratory in Las Vegas and San Antonio. He also worked as a professor, consultant and laboratory inspector.
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Bredt's name is no longer listed among the biographies on the Texas Medical Board website.
Republican State Rep. Brian Harrison, among the first to call for Bredt's resignation from the board, called his removal "another conservative victory for Texas."
"We are a pro-life state, and it is unbelievable that an executive branch agency hired a Planned Parenthood official to help regulate Texas doctors and the practice of medicine," Harrison told The Christian Post Thursday. "There should be an investigation to determine how this happened and accountability for every bureaucrat involved."
Although there is no law explicitly prohibiting state employees from working for Planned Parenthood, the organization's status as a politically charged entity in Texas, particularly in the post-Dobbs era, has led to consistent opposition from conservative factions. The state is embroiled in a high-profile lawsuit aimed at bankrupting Planned Parenthood with a $1.8 billion claim.
Planned Parenthood South Texas CEO Laura Terrill released a statement in which she reprimanded state lawmakers for expending "valuable time and resources playing doctor in an act of political theater."
"Dr. Bredt's work at Planned Parenthood South Texas (PPST) reflects his unwavering commitment to providing the highest standards of medical care," she wrote in a statement. "Planned Parenthoods in Texas follow the law, full stop. We have, and always will, comply with state and federal regulations while focusing on what truly matters: delivering essential health care services to the tens of thousands of Texans who depend on us every day."
State medical board members are appointed by the Texas governor and confirmed by the state Senate for a six-year term. While the board's members are appointed by the governor, agency bureaucrats handle the hiring for the position of medical director.
Located in San Antonio, Planned Parenthood South Texas promotes a number of topics on its social media pages, including the "perks of pubic hair," public events featuring men dressed as women dancing suggestively, and a pizza party to celebrate "period packing" for menstruation, which Planned Parenthood espouses for any "young person."
The clinic also promoted Transgender Awareness week in November with a Facebook post claiming that identifying as transgender or "non-binary" is "normal and natural at any age."
Its website also refers to "anti-abortion extremists" and refers to a May 2024 Pew study that suggested support for legal abortion among a majority of non-Evangelicals.
While Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas no longer provide abortion services following the Dobbs decision in 2022, Planned Parenthood still operates locations in Texas that offer other services.
