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Gov. Perry Stands Up to Obama to Cut Off $17 Million per Year to Planned Parenthood
02/18/2012 AUSTIN, TX -- During the special session last June, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 7 (SB 7) authored by two pro-life legislators, Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) and State Rep. John Zerwas (R-Simonton). Governor Perry signed it in July.
SB 7 allows Texas to renew a joint Medicaid program with the federal government called the Women's Health Program (WHP). This program provides preventive health services for women, including contraceptives.
However, SB 7 explicitly excludes contractors that provide abortions or are affiliated with abortion providers. Planned Parenthood stands to lose $17 million per year. (SB 7 replaced a previous law that expired on September 1, 2011. Without SB 7, Texas would have no statutory basis for excluding Planned Parenthood from the WHP.)
SECTION 1.19 of SB 7 prohibits the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (which administers the Medicaid Program) from contracting with providers that "perform or promote elective abortions or affiliate with entities that perform or promote elective abortions." Of the hundreds of certified Women's Health Program providers, this will exclude only Planned Parenthood entities (of which there are only a few dozen). No other WHP providers will be affected.
However, the Obama Administration refuses to allow the program to go forward if funds cannot go to Planned Parenthood, and it has threatened to cancel the entire WHP in Texas unless Planned Parenthood is fully funded.
When confronted with this position, Gov. Perry responded in a December 12, 2011, news release:
I am concerned the Obama Administration is playing politics by holding women's health care hostage because of Texas' pro-life policies, sacrificing the health of millions of Texas women in the name of their pro-abortion agenda. We are committed to protecting life in Texas, and state law prohibits giving state dollars to abortion providers and affiliates -- a fact the Obama Administration ignores. I strongly urge the administration to do the right thing and grant this waiver, so Texas women can access critical preventative health services, including breast and cervical cancer screenings, rather than making them pay the price for its pro-abortion agenda.
Federal Appeals Court Denies Request to Rehear Challenge to Texas Sonogram Law; State Issues Letter to Abortion Providers
02/11/2012 NEWS ORLEANS, LA -- Yesterday the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans unanimously denied a request by opponents of the Texas Sonogram Law to reconsider the decision of a three-judge panel on that court several weeks ago to completely uphold the law's constitutionality. Meanwhile the lower court in Austin, which had initially enjoined enforcement of key provisions, entirely dismissed the lawsuit brought by the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights.
On February 6 the Texas Department of State Health Services issued a issued a letter to all abortion facilities declaring its intent to completely enforce the law immediately. The letter makes it clear that abortion providers must comply with all aspects of the law.
The Sonogram Law was authored by Texas State Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stephenville) and sponsored by State Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston). Pro-life Gov. Rick Perry signed it into law in May. The law gives women the right to see the sonogram image of their unborn child and to hear the child’s heartbeat, if they wish. Several women testified in support of the law during committee hearings that they had been denied the opportunity to see the sonogram at Texas abortion facilities, including at Planned Parenthood.
Among the strongest aspects of the bill is a provision requiring the physician who is to perform the abortion to meet, in person, with the woman at least 24 hours before the abortion to explain the medical risks and the alternatives to abortion. That provision was authored by State Rep. Bill Callegari (R-Houston) and supported by Rep. Miller and Sen. Patrick as well as most pro-life groups in Texas.
In November, Texas Alliance for Life filed a scholarly amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) brief to defend the sonogram law. A copy of the Texas Alliance for Life's brief is available here. The brief quotes Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court opinion upholding a Pennsylvania informed consent law:
In attempting to ensure that a woman apprehend the full consequences of her decision, the State furthers the legitimate purpose of reducing the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that her decision was not fully informed.
"Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, states may require a physician to provide a pregnant women considering abortion with truthful, nonmisleading information that might be relevant to her decision to undergo the procedure. That is all the State of Texas requires in House Bill 15," said Joe Pojman, Ph.D., TAL's executive director.
Texas AG Rules State May Exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid Family Planning Program
2/17/11 AUSTIN -- Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an opinion affirming that the state may exclude providers that perform abortions or are affiliates of abortion providers from a Medicaid program. A provision in state law intended to exclude Planned Parenthood from contracting to provide family planning services to low-income women in the Women's Health Program is not preempted by federal law. The Texas Legislature passed the provision into law in 2005. However, the Texas Health and Human Services Committee, the agency charges with administering the Medicaid program, did not fully implement the policy, and Planned Parenthood has been receiving at least $6 million per year.
Read the opinion HERE.
The opinion came at the request pro-life state Sen. Bob Deuell (R-Greenville).
Read the request HERE.
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