Texas Legislature leaves already ailing women’s health services in worse shape
This is the story of a veto. Though there were 50 bills rejected by Gov. Greg Abbott following the 85th legislative session — each with its own narrative — this tale is about Senate Bill 790, which would have extended for two more years the work of the Women’s Health Advisory Committee, a group of providers who advised the state regarding the organizational and funding structures of the new women’s health programs in Texas.
Once upon a time, when more reason prevailed, Texas lawmakers created a Medicaid waiver program to provide basic health screenings and contraceptives to women who would not otherwise have these covered by insurance. And this Women’s Health Program was so successful in preventing unplanned pregnancies and saving taxpayer dollars that, after analyzing a few years of data, the Legislative Budget Board recommended an expansion to reap even greater benefits. Disappointingly, by that time, the era of reason — relatively speaking — had come to an end.
In 2011, the “war on abortion” was in high gear. Many Republican lawmakers equated family planning clinics such as Planned Parenthood with that single medical procedure. Unfortunately for the Women’s Health Program, it turned out that the big bad Planned Parenthood was the program’s largest provider, serving nearly half of its clients. When the organization became a target, so did overall family planning services throughout the state.
Thus, against its own self-interest, the Legislature huffed and puffed and blew down the house of the Women’s Health Program while also cutting family planning funding by two-thirds. This gravely impacted access to services across Texas and forced over 80 clinics — most of which were not Planned Parenthood facilities — to close their doors.
When legislators returned in 2013, sobered from the headiness of winning that first battle, many were stunned to learn of the collateral damage and that their actions impacted more than just a single targeted provider. Donning their white knight duds, they rode to the “rescue” with program changes and increased funding, while still, of course, banishing Planned Parenthood. However, as in the story of Humpty Dumpty, a severely tattered safety net system could not easily be put back together again.
Despite the Legislature’s attempt to mend the self-inflicted wounds, women’s health was still in jeopardy. A new state-funded replacement for the Women’s Health Program was seeing significantly fewer clients than the original program, even after a major uptick in provider enrollment. The much-heralded funding boost did not actually restore but, rather, redirected revenue toward another new program, which also failed to meet its family planning service goals. Once again, women’s health programs faced a significant overhaul.
The last chapter of our story begins with the consolidation of women’s health programs in 2015. As this was the third attempt to rebuild a once-successful program, it was critical that the third time be the charm. Hence the creation of the Women’s Health Advisory Committee to help ensure that the system would efficiently and effectively target eligible populations with a seamless and comprehensive array of services, including family planning.
The new Healthy Texas Women program was not fully implemented until the summer of 2016, and sadly, the most recent data revealed that the state continues to see fewer women than before. With the jury still out on the success of the consolidation, a coalition made up of health professionals, advocacy groups and a bipartisan assortment of lawmakers successfully passed SB 790 to extend the Women’s Health Advisory Committee for another two years.
No oracle predicted the final outcome: SB 790 was felled by a veto pen against the better judgment of those most connected to the topic. Today, women’s health services limp along, trying desperately to recapture a level of effectiveness that was lost due to legislative meddling in 2011 — and without boots-on-the-ground folks to help ensure proper outcomes.
The moral of our story? Perhaps, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” After all the changes to the state’s women’s health programs, we are still trying to merely achieve service levels from days of yore. For now, though, women and their families seem to be trapped in one of Grimm’s fairy tales, waiting for a hero to ride in and save the day.
Re: Sept. 4 article, “Abbott says Texas will need $150B to $180B in federal Harvey aid.”
Dear Gov. Abbot: I have always been impressed by your staunch defense of conservative principles advocating smaller government and states’ rights. Thus, I was disappointed with your recent failure to defend our state from federal intervention.
First, you allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to invade, and now you suggest that our proud state would be willing to accept $180 billion in federal aid. Are you going to argue next that our sacred “rainy day fund” should be looted because some areas received a measly 50 inches of rain? Do not be persuaded by images of flood evacuees wading through high water carrying their few possessions in plastic bags. Be a principled conservative again!
OK, I will give you credit for showing real leadership in navigating our crisis. But is there any hope that after this experience you can come to realize that even the federal government can provide value in times of need?
Re: Sept. 6 article, “In Austin, ‘dreamers’ disappointed but determined after DACA rescinded.”
In Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The King and I,” the king sings, “Is a puzzlement,” as he wonders about the world around him. Austinites may want to learn the same tune.
It’s puzzling how a beleaguered state attorney general somehow slips through loopholes of our legal system and lives another day to sue the president of the United States over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. It is equally puzzling how the U.S. attorney general who announces the eventual end of DACA has been allowed to serve as attorney general when he lied, under oath, during congressional hearings.
Does the rule of law apply only to nonpoliticians? Do suspected law-breakers, still under legal scrutiny, continue to make laws — and do so with the legal system’s blessing? Is a puzzlement!
I had to laugh after reading the comments from our Texas senators and representatives about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals decision. What hypocrites! If they truly cared about the “rule of law,” they would have already voted to impeach Trump. How many laws must the Great Pretender break before they act?
Saturday and today, I was honored to spend hours volunteering to sort, lift, haul, stack and load literately thousands of supplies at GTU Jet of Georgetown, which volunteered its hangar.
I worked with dozens of men, women and children of all races, backgrounds and beliefs. We unloaded trailers and stacked supplies. A couple brought supplies from Lakeway. A dad and his children showed up with two boxes of handmade sandwiches.
These folks showed the true love and concern of Texans for each other. Now is not the time for divisive politics when so many of our fellow Texans need help.