What does a future without Roe v. Wade look like? In a lot of ways, it looks like Texas, where those who are in the least ideal financial and socio-economic position to provide for an unplanned-for child are the ones for whom abortion–and contraception–is hardest to access.
The battle over the Women’s Health Program continues with thousands of women left without care as 2013 begins.
New data from the Texas Department of State Health Services shows that, as a result of conservative-fueled budget cuts, fewer Texans than ever are receiving family planning services, and at a higher cost than ever per client. This is fiscal conservatism, Texas-style.
In Thursday’s hearing, Planned Parenthood argued that its exclusion from the WHP would have a significant negative impact on low-income Texans’ access to health care; in its defense, the state argued that any negative impact was irrelevant to the case.
In Thursday’s hearing, Planned Parenthood argued that its exclusion from the WHP would have a significant negative impact on low-income Texans’ access to health care; in its defense, the state argued that any negative impact was irrelevant to the case.
In Thursday’s hearing, Planned Parenthood argued that its exclusion from the WHP would have a significant negative impact on low-income Texans’ access to health care; in its defense, the state argued that any negative impact was irrelevant to the case.
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.
If Texas excludes Planned Parenthood from participating in its new state-funded “Texas Women’s Health Program,” 1,748 clients in one city alone–Austin–will have to find new health care providers. That means existing providers, some of which currently see just one or two patients a year, will have to take on about 60 new patients each, even as they deal with a 66 percent cut in overall family planning funding.
Yesterday in a packed auditorium at the Texas Department of State Health Services, legislators, doctors and other supporters of Planned Parenthood gathered to speak out–sometimes through tears–against proposed rules that would bar Planned Parenthood from participating in the state’s Women’s Health Program.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injuction barring the state from defunding local Planned Parenthood clinics and their affiliates while a trial challening that funding ban moves forward.
