Texas Withdraws Funding for Planned Parenthood Clinics for Women – Clinics That do Not Perform Abortions

What Republican War on Women? – Oh, That Republican War on Women

Federal health care programs that support health care for women are not programs that operate clinics directly.  Instead the Feds funnel money to the states who support privately operated, non-profit clinics who provide the specialization needed to provide women with health care.  One of these organizations is Planned Parenthood, who, despite their name devote only a very small amount of their resources to family planning and who devote most of their resources to providing women’s health care.

The great, compassionate Republicans who run Texas without the interference from a viable Democratic party have decided to withdraw that funding from Planned Parenthood clinics, clinics that do not provide abortion services.

The Texas Women's Health Program last year provided $41 million, much of it federal funds, for services such as birth control and breast- and cervical-cancer screenings. Some $13 million of that went to 49 Planned Parenthood clinics that don't provide abortions, the clinics said. Clinics that provide abortions, including 14 Planned Parenthood ones, have long been barred from the program.

The lack of funding will of course be devastating to those clinics.  The head of the anti abortion forces, a woman either doesn’t care about women’s health, or is under the fantasy impression clinics will spring up to meet the need.

Elizabeth Graham, director of Texas Right to Life, commended Judge Smith's ruling.

"Planned Parenthood is playing politics with women's health, forcing their abortion agenda on taxpayers," Ms. Graham said, adding that there are other providers "not affiliated with the abortion industry that are eligible to provide services as part of the Women's Health Program."

Because of its discrimination Texas will lose federal funding.

Because of the new restriction, the Obama administration said it no longer would fund the Texas program, but Gov. Rick Perry has said the state could pay for the program itself.

And while a lower court ruled Texas could not take this action without a full trial to determine its validity, an appeals court immediately granted Texas the right to deny hundreds of thousands of health care.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel in Austin said Texas can't cut off funding, ruling that would violate the clinics' constitutional right to associate with abortion providers. . .Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerry Smith granted the state's request for a stay. Planned Parenthood said it would appeal his order.

Texas justifies its position this way

In an appeal, Texas argued it can "exclude organizations who seek to advance agendas contrary to the values that the state and its legislature seek to promote in this program."

meaning that the state has decided that it knows better than its citizens what legal behavior (abortions are legal you know) its citizens should not engage in and can do everything in its fiscal arsenal to prevent citizens doing what the state of Texas does not approve of.  Of course the irony (probably lost on Texas Republicans) is that many of the women who will be denied care are probably opposed to abortion or would never consider an abortion for themselves.  But then empathy for women and their health care needs is really not something the Texas Republicans are in to.

They call themselves ‘Conservatives”, men and women who want government to control people's lives and decide what is best for them.  The rest of us call them  .  .  . well, you know what they are even if they do not know what they are.