Yesterday, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram printed an article by Texas Governor Rick Perry concerning the Obama administration’s decision to cut the Women’s Health Program. As Governor Perry puts it,
President Obama’s administration plans to cancel funding for a long-standing and cost-effective health and wellness program for more than 100,000 Texas women. This move will cut off access to screenings for breast and cervical cancer, hypertension and diabetes, STD testing and family planning services for Texas women who otherwise could not afford them.
According to Governor Perry, when the state of Texas chose to stop funding Planned Parenthood and their affiliates, the federal government stepped in and pulled funding for the Women’s Health Program (a Medicaid program). Despite the Obama administration’s claims about their concern for women’s health, they have decided that if women can’t get “healthcare” from Planned Parenthood, they’re not going to get it at all.
This situation in Texas illustrates just one way that the Obama administration is tied very closely to the agenda of Planned Parenthood. Despite what an individual state’s legislature decides to do; despite which organizations a specific state may choose to stop supporting—our current federal government is interested in pushing Planned Parenthood forward.
Planned Parenthood likes to claim that, without their clinics, women—especially poor women—would not receive the healthcare they need. But, as many women know, help is readily available through county or state health offices. Women DO NOT NEED Planned Parenthood to get a breast or cervical cancer screening. Women DO NOT NEED Planned Parenthood to get a pregnancy test or an STD test. Women DO NOT NEED Planned Parenthood for true healthcare. There are already plenty of programs and places that perform these services for poor women—including the Women’s Health Program of Texas.
Governor Perry is correct that the Obama administration has chosen to exalt the politics of abortion over women’s healthcare. If a woman can’t get a taxpayer-funded abortion in Texas, then the federal government won’t pay for her to get an annual exam either. If anyone still thinks that Obama and his administration actually care about women, I’m amazed. Governor Perry explains how Obama has chosen Planned Parenthood over women:
…the Obama administration apparently is unwilling to allow the exclusion of organizations like Planned Parenthood, as Texas law requires, even though that organization represents less than 2 percent of enrolled providers. Texas has more than 2,500 qualified providers in 4,600 sites across the state, ready to deliver care.
If this debate were really about healthcare, the Obama administration would allow the Texas Women’s Health Program to continue.Instead, the administration’s stated intention to reject the Texas program reflects nothing more than its pro-abortion agenda, and is a blatant pander to the president’s liberal base, which has made Planned Parenthood’s abortion services a celebrated cause.
Governor Perry believes that the Obama administration is specifically targeting Texas because they have passed and abide by several pro-life laws (which are also pro-women). In effect, Texas and its policies is now anathema to the federal government.
Texas is an easy target for such attacks because we value life and have worked hard to preserve and protect its sanctity over the years. We’ve passed laws requiring that parents be notified and give consent before their minor daughters abort a child, ensuring parents will be involved and ready to provide much-needed guidance and advice at the most critical of moments.
We’ve funded and promoted alternatives to abortion, and provided counseling for women on these other options, including adoption, which – in addition to saving a child – is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give a waiting mother and father.
We also created a law that will prevent abortions in Texas until the mother has a sonogram, because we believe women deserve to have all the information before making such a life-ending decision.
Read the rest of Governor Perry’s article here.
