(Emily Ramshaw & Jay Root/Texas Tribune)
Gov. Rick Perry notified President Obama on Thursday that Texas will find the money to continue to fund the Women’s Health Program, no matter what the federal government does. But Planned Parenthood won’t be allowed to participate — and the program may no longer be affiliated with Medicaid.
“We’re going to fund this program. … That’s a moot point,” Perry said. He declined to say where he’d get the roughly $35 million the federal government provides every year, but told reporters that the state would not drop the program that has become a political football between Washington and Texas.
“We’ll find the money. The state is committed to this program,” he told reporters. “This program is not going away.”
Perry and Republican leaders in the Legislature don’t want Planned Parenthood to be allowed to participate in the $40-million-per-year program, which is designed to help low-income women get birth-control pills, family-planning help and cancer screenings. Though no clinics that accept funding from the program may perform abortions, the state’s Health and Human Services commissioner signed a rule last week that forces Planned Parenthood clinics, which provide more than 40 percent of the program’s services, out of the program anyway. (Full story at Texas Tribune)
OTHER HEADLINES:
- Louisiana Congressman Urges Feds to Investigate Medicare Fraud in Houston (Houston Chronicle)
- Coming of Age…Immunizations (KUHF Public Radio)
- House Committee Urges Action On Food Stamp Fraud (KUHF Public Radio)
- Kenneth Feinberg Relieved of Duties as Judge Approves Transition for Oil Spill Claims Process (Washington Post)
- More Work Needed to Stop Youth Tobacco Use (KHOU 11 News)
OPINIONS ON THE NEWS:
- Claudia Feldman: Rule-Bound Schools Are Not Kid-Friendly (Houston Chronicle)
The other day I had a chance to talk to educator/author Ken Robinson, who thinks modern day schools look way too much like manufacturing plants of old (think Model T assembly lines) and don’t spend nearly enough time helping kids develop their talents and passions. - Charles Murray: Narrowing the New Class Divide (New York Times)
The haves in our society are increasingly cocooned in a system that makes it easy for their children to continue to be haves. Recognizing that, and acting to diminish the artificial advantages of the new upper class — especially if that class takes the lead in advocating these reforms — could be an important affirmation of American ideals.