Op-Ed: Texas Loses The Medicaid Women’s Health Program Over Politics

            Rick Perry made a big mistake when he denied Federal Medicaid funding for the Women’s Health Program to make a political statement over abortion.

            The Women’s Health Program (WHP) is a Medicaid program that provides low-income Texas women with annual pap-smears, STI testing, contraceptives, and diabetes screenings among other preventative care.

            At the beginning of the year, Texas state governor Rick Perry decided to make an executive order denying abortion affiliates from receiving federal Medicaid funding for the WHP. He made an exemption for hospitals, meaning that the only affiliate being excluded was, can you guess? Planned Parenthood.

            Texas’ new law explicitly disregards federal Medicaid law that requires women be able to choose any medical provider that is qualified to perform services covered under the WHP.

            Excluding Planned Parenthood from the WHP because they are an abortion affiliate is nonsensical; to qualify for WHP you have to be between the ages of 18 and 44 and importantly, not pregnant. Under the Hyde Amendment, no state or federal money has helped pay for abortions since 1976.

            The Medicaid Women’s Health Program is 90% funded by the federal government- for every $1 Texas invests the feds give us $9. Texas is denying nearly $35 million dollars in federal funding for preventative care for women. Texas pays about $1.3 billion annually for unintended pregnancies, the highest price tag in America except for California whom we are tied with for first place.

            Rick Perry has promised that the state of Texas will cover the funds we will lose by the implementation of the new law. This notion is interesting, because last legislative session, Texas cut preventative care funding from $111 million down to just $38 million when facing a devastating budget crisis. This resulted in nearly 300,000 women losing access to care. By implementation of the new executive order denying abortion affiliates (wait, just Planned Parenthood) from receiving funding, an additional 130,000 women will lose care.

            Rick Perry’s argument has been that Planned Parenthood makes up only 2% of WHP providers. This is true, but they also provide a whopping 44% of the services. A lot of Texas doctors cannot cover Medicaid services, because they get a much higher reimbursement from private insurance companies. Doctors literally cannot afford to accept Medicaid.  Without Planned Parenthood, the WHP will not have the capacity to operate. Jose Camacho, the executive director of the Texas Association of Community Health Centers has said there is no way the remaining health centers that have suffered budget cuts will be able to build the capacity quickly enough to continue care for the 130,000 women who rely on Planned Parenthood for their annual exams and other preventative services.

            A reporter asked the governor what Texas would do if Texas could come up with the money, but providers still could not cover the services. Perry’s response was, “Well, I don’t live in what ifs.” That sounds like an extremely illogical argument, and a dangerous one. I for one am fond of back up plans when it comes to health care for 130,000 Texas women.

            Kay Bailey Hutchison, another staunchly pro-life Texas representative, has actually dissented against Rick Perry’s choice to reject federal funding, a move that surprised Planned Parenthood and its supporters. Someone with political will in Texas knows that the Women’s Health Program in no way funds abortions, because you can’t be pregnant and receive services from the program! There is hope for Texas.

            It is important for Texas’ governor to sit down at the table with the federal government, and decide how to resolve this issue. One in four Texas women lack health insurance, and Texas has the third highest rate of cervical cancer in the nation. Texas cannot afford to reject money for preventative health care for low-income Texas women.

Valentine's Day with Planned Parenthood, VRJ Update, First Op-Ed Attempt, and Upcoming Events

Planned Parenthood Valentine's Day Prep Night


On Tuesday night, I went to the Planned Parenthood Office to help make FIFTEEN HUNDRED Valentine's Day bags.

We needed a lot of condoms.

We got into an assembly line and started packing! I helped with ribbon duty.

Here is part of the finished product. All of the bags have six condoms and some candy.

Liz and me after stuffing Vday bags for 4 hours.

I met the President of the Texas State Vox group, Feminists United, at this event, too! We really look forward to collaborating with her because.... UT'S VOICES FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE JUST GOT APPROVED AS A REGISTERED STUDENT ORGANIZATION!

Coming back to help finish the Valentine's Day Bags/ Opportunity to work with Dyana


While we finished stuffing all of the bags Tuesday, we did not finish tying all of them. I went back to volunteer on Thursday.

This + a gigantic trash bag needed to be completed.

But we finished in about 2.5 hours! 

The PP Volunteer Coordinator, Dru, introduced me to Dyana Limon-Mercado while I was there. Dyana is the Planned Parenthood Statewide Public Affairs Coordinator. Her job is to figure out what new Texas legislation means for the clinics, and also to research legislative districts. She asked me to send her my resume, and I am really looking forward to volunteering under her! As a Social Work major, it would be a great opportunity, and sounds really fun. 

Tabling at Planned Parenthood


I tabled for the first time at the North Austin clinic this week. It wasn't quite what I expected. I think a lot of the patients there thought we were patients. We didn't have Planned Parenthood shirts on, and the table wasn't placed where we could sit behind it (so we sat next to it). Next time, I'll try to get the morning shift so I can help organize how the table is set up, and I need to get my hands on a shirt.

Aren't these Proper Attire condom wrappers the bomb?

First Stab at an Op-Ed


I was required to write an Op-Ed for my Social Justice class. I've never written anything like this, but here is my first try. I wrote about the Texas' new sonogram law.

Texas Further Complicates Abortion With A New Sonogram Law

The new sonogram law that requires women to listen to the fetal heartbeat and a description of the fetus by their doctor is shaming, demeaning, and most importantly, medically unnecessary.

Texas House Bill Number 325 was written to interfere with a woman’s decision to terminate her pregnancy, while lengthening the process. (And it is a process due to the new 2-day waiting period that was enforced starting October 1, 2011.)

Doctors (not ultra sound technicians) must now verbally explain ultrasound images: the dimensions of the fetus, if it has arms, legs, or internal organs, and must describe heartbeats if audible. But don’t worry, the woman can “choose to look away from the images.” Directions were not explicit on if she could plug her ears, too.

An exclusion offered in the bill states that if the fetus has an irreversible medical condition, or in cases of rape or incest, that women can opt out of the fetal images and their descriptions.

When the Center for Reproductive Rights challenged the sonogram law on the basis that it infringed on doctors’ free speech rights, the 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the temporary order against enforcing the law. Chief Judge Edith Jones wrote in her statement, “The point of informed consent laws is to allow the patient to evaluate her condition and render he best decision under difficult circumstances. Denying her up-to-date medical information is more of an abuse to her ability to decide than providing the information.”

Then why the exclusion for certain cases? While I’m glad that victims may opt-out, the exclusion is a contradiction to the reasoning of upholding this law that assumes women don’t understand what being pregnant means, and that there is a good chance it will change her mind. (Although it may be too early to tell, Amy Hagstrom Miller, the owner of five Whole Woman’s Health clinics, has confirmed that the same percentage of women come back after their sonogram since the enforcement of this law.)

Advocates against abortion claim that women believe that their fetus is just a “blob of cells,” and that hearing and seeing the fetus will be so dramatic that she will actually reverse her decision to terminate her pregnancy. 65% of women who have abortions already have at least one child. They know a fetus is not a “blob of cells.”

That opinion is condescending of women’s mental capabilities. As Hagstrom Miller puts it, “We haven’t had a woman say, ‘Oh, my goodness, I didn’t expect to see a fetus,’ and then change her mind. She knows she’s pregnant.”

Imagine if restrictions of this sort were passed for different services. Let’s take getting your driver’s license for example.

Cars are death machines on wheels. In 1998, nearly 42,000 people were killed in traffic crashes, and another 3.2 million were injured, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Now imagine you have to make two trips to the DMV. (Waiting times at abortion clinics are much longer and obviously more traumatic than waiting at the DMV, but many Americans can relate to the dread they feel at even the mention of the DMV.) You wait and you wait and you wait, just to get to the front desk, and the friendly DMV associate tells you, “here’s some information about driving a motor vehicle, now wait 24 hours and come back.”

America would have a fit. But since this law only causes undue burden on pregnant women (not men, the second party involved in unwanted pregnancies), it’s okay.

Let me be clear. Women don’t waltz into abortion clinics. Women don’t come to an abortion clinic before they have heavily considered all of their options. Abortion isn’t fun. Women don’t become pregnant just so they can have an abortion. No one expects or wants to have an abortion.

Women will wait for 24 hours after their sonogram to have an abortion. They will sign extra forms, even listen to belittling details of the fetus they carry. This unnecessary medical information was passed to deter women from pregnancy, but it’s not the right tactic.

Passing legislation that addresses outcomes of an undesirable behavior is not the way to resolve the behavior. The right tactic is trying to reduce unintended pregnancies before they happen. But even if every sexually active woman has access to birth control, and used it consistently and correctly (assuming that’s the route you would take to prevent unintended pregnancies) the need for safe abortion will never be eliminated.

Adding petty restrictions such as medically unnecessary information and waiting periods is a disgrace to women’s intelligence, their will, and their ability to make choices for their family. 

Volunteer at Inside Books Project

Don't forget to come volunteer with Social Work Council tonight at Inside Books Project! Contact me at katywaters@utexas.edu for more info, or if you would like to carpool with us!

Nicholas Kristof Lecture

Nicholas Kristof, one of the authors of Half the Sky, will be speaking tomorrow evening at the LBJ Library.

Cecile Richards Speaking at Planned Parenthood Rally Friday


Just a heads up! Cecile Richards, the President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, will be speaking on the LBJ Lawn at 2pm on Friday. Here is a short blurb about the event:

Birth control opponents in Congress are trying to take health care benefits away from working women and students. Come stand up for women’s health-- show Congress that birth control matters to you!

Virtually all women use birth control.  It’s preventive health care, as well as an economic issue, helping women plan and space their families.

Join us on Friday, February 17th from 2 to 3 pm for a rally in support of making birth control affordable -- All women deserve access to contraception, without a co-pay, and no matter where they work. Birth control is the single most common prescription that young and middle-age women require. Birth control use is nearly universal in the United States with nearly Ninety-nine percent of women using birth control at some point in their lives.

Stand up for women’s health! Join St. Edward’s Student Activist Shelby Alexander and special guest, Planned Parenthood Federation of America CEO Cecile Richards at 2pm on the LBJ Lawn to let our elected officials know that birth control matters to us!

Here is a link to the event on Facebook. 


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