Texas
Related: About this forumCourt refuses Planned Parenthood appeal in Texas
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Court-refuses-Planned-Parenthood-appeal-in-Texas-3982560.phpIn a statement issued Thursday, Gov. Rick Perry said Texas will immediately "defund" the health organization's affiliates.
"Today's ruling affirms yet again that in Texas the Women's Health Program has no obligation to fund Planned Parenthood and other organizations that perform or promote abortion. In Texas we choose life, and we will immediately begin defunding all abortion affiliates to honor and uphold that choice."
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/26/court-lets-texas-pull-planned-parenthood-funds/
Thats precisely what Perry is doing, passing on more than $40 million in federal assistance and directing the state to exclude Planned Parenthood, which provides health care services to more than 130,000 low-income women in Texas. Planned Parenthood has 49 health centers across Texas, many of which will be forced to close due to Perrys decision.
As an experiment, pro-choice activist Andrea Grimes said in September that she spent six hours trying to locate a womens health clinic in Austin that isnt Planned Parenthood but does accept Medicaid. Despite a list of 181 clinics on the states website, Grimes said she found just 13 actual doctors in the whole state who perform the necessary procedures and accept Medicaid, explaining that the other listings were repeats, radiology centers, labs and doctors who didnt take Medicaid at all.
To make matters worse for many low-income women, the Kaiser Family Foundation says that Texas has one of the most restrictive Medicaid programs in the country, requiring that a family of three earn less than $188 a month to qualify for assistance. Under the presidents Affordable Care Act, however, Medicaid was slated to expand dramatically to cover nearly all low-income Americans, but Perry also said he will turn down more than $164 billion in federal money that would have been used to provide health care to 1.2 million Texans through 2023.
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This is disastrous for low income women in our state. It is effective on Nov. 1.
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)onestepforward
(3,691 posts)I think it is about controlling women in addition to punishing poor people for being poor.
It's sadistic with potentially deadly consequences.
progressoid
(49,933 posts)These assholes can't seem to find a low to sink to.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,311 posts)dhill926
(16,309 posts)And I wonder who'll be making the money off this now.
They_Live
(3,223 posts)Perry is a bad man. May karma visit him soon and often.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)OPERATION NORTHWOODS. The 9/11 you never knew about.
TexasTowelie
(111,905 posts)Responding Friday to a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood, a state judge in Austin ordered Texas to temporarily halt efforts to exclude the organization from the Womens Health Program the latest step in long-running legal and political battle over the health initiatives future.
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued the restraining order after a brief afternoon hearing and set aside three hours for a Nov. 8 hearing on whether to continue the ban.
The lawsuit, filed in state court one day after Planned Parenthood lost a federal court challenge, argued that Texas health officials adopted an invalid rule when they moved to exclude Planned Parenthood and any other provider that supports abortion or is affiliated with an organization that performs abortions from the program, which provides contraceptives and other care to low-income women.
The rules that the state has adopted pose a substantial risk that thousands of Texas women will lose the health care that they currently receive, said Susan Conway, an Austin lawyer representing Planned Parenthood. Were optimistic that were right on the law.
More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/judge-state-cannot-cut-planned-parenthood-from-hea/nSppQ/
onestepforward
(3,691 posts)Thanks for the update!
The next step:
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/12896/planned-parenthood-scores-victory-in-texas-district-court
As a procedural matter, the next step would be the November 8 hearing, when it will be decided whether a temporary injunction should be put into place until a full trial on the legality of Texas' action can be had. The current order, as a matter of law, cannot last more than 14 days, and simply preserves the status quo. If the November 8 hearing is inconclusive, the temporary restraining order could be extended for another 14 days, but only for good cause shown.
onestepforward
(3,691 posts)Planned Parenthood won an extension of an order blocking Texas from making cuts in funding to its clinics because the organization provides abortion services.
Texas officials were stopped by an Oct. 26 temporary restraining order issued by Judge Amy Clark Meachum in Austin from eliminating public funds for the 49 Planned Parenthood clinics in the state that dont provide abortions.
After a hearing yesterday in Austin, U.S. District Judge Stephen Yelenosky said he is extending Meachums order.
Yelenosky said that by labeling all Planned Parenthood clinics as being affiliated with abortion providers, state officials are using a definition of affiliate that goes against the law on funding for the Womens Health Program written by the Legislature.
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No surprise here. Greg Abbott said Texas will immediately appeal the decision.