They say things are bigger in Texas, and apparently its true. The state may suffer a whopping $6 million loss if Planned Parenthood clinics are no longer part of the Womens Health Program, and tens of thousands of women could be without care.

Thats the word from a George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services report that analyzed the fallout from a Republican-led plan to kick Planned Parenthood out of the states Womens Health Program. The program, a family planning and health system that started in 2005, is run under a waiver from Medicaid and serves about 100,000-plus low-income women.

In a broader perspective, its a little sad to me that not very long ago, there had been a political compromise about family planning a birth control services, with conservatives and liberals agreeing that it was a good thing to help women take control of their reproductive choices and also decrease the need for abortions, Leighton Lu, director of the schools Center for Health Policy Research told TakePart.

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Within the year that social contract has appeared to unravel, and there have been stronger attacks on family planning and birth control. I thought this was something everyone could agree on.

The Womens Health Program offers birth control and basic screenings for illnesses such as diabetes and cancer. It has always excluded institutions that offer abortions, and the Planned Parenthood clinics that were part of the program didnt provide them, so they were allowed in.

But according to the Austin American-Statesman, in February of this year state officials made a new rule saying that healthcare providers that were even associated with organizations that provided or promoted abortions were to be excluded.

Medicare and Medicaid decided this wasnt in line with existing laws that allowed women to choose their own healthcare providers, so they yanked the funding, which constituted 90 percent of the budget for the Womens Health Program with them.

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The state said it would continue backing the program with state money. However, two lawsuits ensued: Texas is suing the federal government, and a number of Planned Parenthood affiliates are suing the state of Texas.

Link:
If Texas Bans Planned Parenthood, The Fallout May Be Huge