Texas women are crossing their fingers, and legs, while they wait to see if they'll be allowed to get an annual check up at Planned Parenthood.

According the Texas Medicaid Women's Health Program, their purpose is to help "low-income women [receive] family planning exams, related health screenings and birth control." This is made difficult, though, when State Sen. Bob Deuell wants to stop those women from utilizing the services of any clinics that offer abortion, or are affiliated with an organization that does.

So far, no Planned Parenthood clinics who have been operating through the Women's Health Program offer elected abortion, but Deuell's desire to oust Planned Parenthood is based on the 2005 legislation that helped put the Women's Health Program into effect, but has been ignored because policy makers question the constitutional grounds of the legislation. The rules state that clinics receiving Women's Health Program patients can't "perform or promote elective abortions, [or be] affiliates of entities that perform or promote elective abortions." Deuell's claimed objective, frequently stated alongside his objection to Planned Parenthood, is to bring comprehensive health care to women, which is not provided by Planned Parenthood. To be sure, comprehensive health coverage for impoverished women would be wonderful, the issue, though, is much more nuanced than that.

The decision regarding the legislation's constitutionality is currently being made by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. The Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has informed Abbott that if affiliates are barred from the Women's Health Program, the state risks violating Medicaid rules and losing as much as $18 million of the $20 million that was spent on the program last year.

Beyond constitutional debates, there is the practicality of having services available that makes this program valuable in the first place. Sarah Wheat, Planned Parenthood's Texas Capital director of public affairs, points out that "If Planned Parenthood isn't able to participate in the Women's Health Program, it basically means that there are tens of thousands of women across the state that probably aren't going to get that health care."  Limited enrollment and higher overhead are just a few reasons other clinics may be less accessible for women who need the care.

The Women's Health Program has prevented more than 10,000 unplanned pregnancies (through contraception and other family planning methods, not abortion) in 2008 and saved the state about $40 million a year (according to a recent HHSC study), largely thanks to clinics like Planned Parenthood. While low-income women in Texas would love to see comprehensive health care become readily available, limiting their ability to receive care from an institution that has been helping millions of women isn't the way to make that happen. This debate does more to undermine the program's intentions than to facilitate health care for women who need it. Why then, are so many efforts being put toward fixing a program that isn't broken?  

Sign this petition to tell Texas Senator that women need their health care where they can get it, so the Women's Health Program can continue with success.

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