As any woman knows, finding the right gynecologist is no small feat–but finding the “right” gynecologist is taking on a new meaning in Texas, where reproductive health providers must now show that their politics don’t clash with those of conservative lawmakers if they want to continue to see patients in the Texas Women’s Health Program.
Texas Governor Rick Perry’s office says it will rely on lawmakers to determine the appropriate punishment for women who seek abortions after 20 weeks if the state succeeds in banning such procedures. Who might these criminals be? Mothers. College students. High schoolers. Domestic violence victims.
A federal appeals court, on which sits a judge that Rush Limbaugh counts on his “team,” has refused to re-hear arguments against Texas’ barring of Planned Parenthood from participation in its Women’s Health Program.
On Tuesday, Texas Governor Rick Perry stopped by to lend a little good-old-boy masculinity to the opening of a branch of Houston’s The Source For Women, a crisis pregnancy center that Perry touted as the future of Texas’ new Women’s Health Program–a program explicitly designed and intended to serve women who are not, and don’t want to be, pregnant.
While Perry prays for the president, who will pray for all of the poor and uninsured losing access to health care?
Last night I had a nightmare and awoke to a realization. The time has come for us to band together to chase the monsters from our nation’s bedrooms for once and for all.
New research out of the University of Texas, Houston, confirms that young people in Texas are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors than their peers nationwide. And, the researchers suggest that the state’s conservative policies policies around sexuality education and reproductive heath are to blame.
In 2007, Rick Perry signed an executive order mandating HPV vaccines for all girls entering the sixth grade. While he’s stood behind this decision for years, he began back-peddling as soon as he began running for president. While we may never know what Perry really thinks about HPV, STDs, and prevention, a close look at this issues shows us what he thinks about campaign contributions.
School has begun in earnest for us girls enrolled in the school of politics. So, girlfriends, sit-up straight and pay attention, for these past two school days and nights likely taught us more than we may learn during any other two anytime soon.
Texas students respond to the state’s teen pregnancy rate by marching on the capitol to demand contraceptive education, a mini-roundup of the South Dakota waiting period/mandatory pro-life counseling bill, and the Oklahoma House moves to make abortion after 20 weeks a felony – for the doctor.
