Texas Wasting Money, Hurting Women's Health Services With Planned Parenthood Ban, Editorial Argues

January 16, 2013 — Texas' decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from the state's Women's Health Program because it provides abortions "fixed a problem that didn't exist, and now, the fix is spawning worse problems," according to a Dallas Morning News editorial. The editorial notes that "federal law dictated long before Texas legislators intervened [that] not a dime of taxpayer money can be used to provide abortion services."

By excluding Planned Parenthood, the state became ineligible for "federal funding that paid tens of millions of dollars for low-income women's reproductive health services," the editorial explains. "[T]he result has been a waste of public money, enormous cuts in health care funding and creation of an informational black hole for low-income women seeking health services," it adds.

A recent survey of providers listed on the state's WHP website found that only 18% "actually accept patients for the services the state says they provide," the editorial notes (Dallas Morning News, 1/14).