As of Nov. 1, Texas funding for Planned Parenthood will come to a halt.
Gov. Rick Perry recently turned down 90 percent of the federal funding that kept Planned Parenthood in business and is planning on taking the Texas Women’s Health Program in a different direction.
Therefore, Texas will forgo nearly $40 million in federal assistance.
Planned Parenthood, which is currently the largest provider of reproductive health services in the U.S., is being denied funding on the basis that organizations involved with the group offer abortions. The result is dozens of providers will have to close down or reduce their hours until another source of funding is found.
The problem is we are closing down an organization that has been accused of being an abortion business when they have done more than any other organization in the U.S. to prevent abortions. Despite speculation, it remains the single largest provider of contraceptives, family planning and sexual education and offers screenings for breast and cervical cancer, examinations for sexually transmitted diseases, infertility services, adoption referrals and abortion referrals.
While it is true more people go to Planned Parenthood seeking abortion information than any other clinic in the U.S., the clinic is considered the leading sexual and reproductive provider in the nation. Women visit them seeking services and information in general.
Its contraceptive services prevent approximately 584,000 unintended pregnancies and 291,000 abortions annually. Out of its total services, abortion accounts for only 3 percent.
Politics are interfering with the organization’s ability to provide basic health care to women in need with the hopes that it will help reduce the number of abortions in our state. This in an unrealistic goal if the government shuts down the one organization that offers women health services they can actually afford and abortion referrals as a last resort.
Although Planned Parenthood has already filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas and proclaimed it will not give up, Oklahoma has followed Texas’ example and announced it would pull funding as well.
Planned Parenthood covers women from ages 18 to 44 with incomes in the poverty level, and about three-quarters of its clients are under the age of 30. All of these women have come to rely on a system that is slipping out from underneath them for what seems like a political statement.
Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for Perry, has been quoted saying that the decision is a win for Texas women, first and foremost, because of the state’s priority to protect life.
I wonder how.
