Five years ago Texas ceased its financial support for Planned Parenthood. State officials claim that the replacement state-supported services have reached the same level of care Planned Parenthood supplied. The facts do not support that contention.

In 2014, one out of every three women living in Texas said they had no regular health care. In 2010, before defunding Planned Parenthood, only one in five women were without sufficient health services.

After Texas removed Planned Parenthood as an option for thousands of women, the Obama Administration removed funding for the state’s healthcare system. The state’s family-planning costs rose from $15 million in 2011 to $104 million in 2014.

Although federal money cannot be used for abortions by Planned Parenthood for reasons other than rape and incest, the real issue is that private donations do pay for the elimination of unwanted pregnancies. To support the Christian religious right, Texas seeks to end all Planned Parenthood operations.

Planned Parenthood has suffered from the loss of state funding. Thirty-six offices have been forced to close across the state. Those which remain open are often forced to charge fees for services previously offered at no cost. This is harmful to poor women, mostly black and Hispanic. This is pure racism. White women who have substantial income are able to have an abortion any time they choose.

Texas continues to pass laws aimed at moving the state backwards in time. Laws removing rights from women have become a frequent course of action for the state legislature. The Lone Star State is challenging Alabama for the title of ‘most racist state in the nation.’

Op-Ed

By James Turnage
Source

Photo Courtesy of Kimberly Vardeman

Author’s Page http://www.amazon.com/By-James-turnage/e/B00LOCJ2Z2