On August 21, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an injunction that had barred Texas from enforcing its ban against Planned Parenthood’s participation in the Women’s Health Program, a Medicaid program that provides health screenings and family planning services to more than 100,000 low-income and uninsured women.
As a non-practicing registered nurse, and a Member of the United States Congress representing the 30th District of Texas, I am appalled by the reckless agenda of Republican lawmakers who insist on blocking women’s access to basic, preventative health care services under the pretext of defunding abortion. Abortion is not the issue here – it is a political distraction from the critical issue of providing health care to women. As Governor Perry knows well, those Planned Parenthood health centers that participate in the Texas Women’s Health Program are financially and legally separate from Planned Parenthood health centers that provide abortions. Yet he continues to score cheap political points at the expense of the wellbeing of women in Texas.
For more than 75 years, women in Texas have relied on Planned Parenthood for access to vital services such as life saving cancer screenings, annual exams, and health education information. Planned Parenthood is the single largest provider of care within the Women’s Health Program, providing health care to 52,000 women in Texas.
By barring Planned Parenthood from the Women’s Health Program, the burden of care will shift to other health care centers across the state, many which do not have the capacity to absorb the new patient load. This dilemma will surely leave thousands of Texas women without care, and further burden a health care system that is already stretched too thin.
It is no secret that Texas’ health care system is in a state of emergency. According to an annual report recently released by the federal Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, Texas has the worst health care system in the Nation, ranking number one for the percentage of uninsured residents. Texas was also rated worst in the Nation in caring for breast cancer patients under age 70. Women in Texas have the third-highest rate of cervical cancer in the United States, a form of cancer which, if found early through annual screenings, is highly curable.
With alarming figures such as these, Governor Perry and Republican lawmakers in Texas should be working overtime to create and implement policies that strengthen and protect the health of women and their families; instead they are doing the exact opposite. In 2011, Governor Perry slashed two-thirds of the budget for women’s health care services, leaving 160,000 low income women without access to health care. Immediately after the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, Governor Perry publicly stated he would not implement the law’s Medicaid expansion provision, which would have provided millions of low-income Texans with health insurance.
As a woman, a mother, and an experienced health care provider, I believe that healthy women result in healthy families and healthy communities. I urge Governor Perry and Republican lawmakers in Texas to set aside politics and put the health of women and their families first.
Congresswoman Johnson's op ed appeared in The Dallas Weekly
