Timeline of Texas' Attacks on Women's Health
By Jacqueline Murphy | Feb. 20, 2014, 11:08 a.m.
Category: Attacks on Planned Parenthood, State Attacks
Today, the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee is holding a hearing on “legislative achievements in women's healthcare.” No, you didn’t read that wrong. Out-of-touch politicians in Texas have supported and passed extreme policies that have decimated access for Texas women on everything from lifesaving cancer screenings and family planning to safe and legal abortion. And now they want to talk about “achievements”?
In the last few years, the attacks in Texas have not stopped—they’ve only gotten worse.Thousands of women are now unable to get health care at Planned Parenthood through the Texas Women’s Health Program (TWHP). This is on top of the estimated 155,000 women who lost access to basic, preventive health care due to the 2011 legislature’s cruel and dangerous budget cuts. Low-income women systematically have been denied access to preventive health care including birth control, and now Planned Parenthood is in court fighting to keep abortion safe and legal in Texas.
Opponents of women’s health may talk a big game about “achievements” on women’s health in Texas, but let’s be clear: they have not restored the programs that provided birth control and well-women exams for low-income Texas women.
Tags: Texas, Planned Parenthood, Timeline, Texas Women’s Health Program