Opinion

Why target Planned Parenthood?

Have babies. Have them on the public's dime. That's the implicit message that the state Legislature is sending.

With just the governor's signature missing as of Friday on a larger Medicaid bill, it looks like the Legislature has made significant inroads toward defunding Planned Parenthood in Texas. The problem with that — if the language is allowed to stand — is that the organization's family planning services, even without abortion, have likely done more to prevent unwanted pregnancies paid by Medicaid in this state than any other group.

But the satisfaction this legislation will elicit in anti-abortion circles will make a mockery of the term they prefer, pro-life. They will have succeeded in making life exceedingly more difficult for the state's low-income women who depend on Planned Parenthood for reproductive health services, the overwhelming majority of which have nothing to do with abortion.

Oh, I know. Gov. Rick Perry and the legislators pushing this would never say those precise words about having babies. Abortion is their rallying cry, though no state or federal funds go toward this even now. And they will cite budget imperatives. But actions speak louder than words. And their actions will have predictable effect.

In a letter sent out to supporters, Planned Parenthood President and CEO Jeffrey Hons explains that 56 percent of all births in Texas are now covered by Medicaid, with an average cost to the state of $16,630 per woman for prenatal care, delivery and infant care during that first year.

Planned Parenthood is in the business of helping women have only the babies they want. And this is accomplished mostly by helping women take control of their own destinies through family planning, overwhelmingly not through providing abortion. Planned Parenthood's 12 clinics served 37,675 people in 2010. Of those, 2,191 had abortions (a legal procedure, by the way). But, again, not with state and federal funds.

The organization estimates that it helped avert 3,155 Medicaid births, saving $51 million, working through the Women's Health Program (WHP).

Of Texas' 254 counties, 171 have three or fewer WHP providers and Planned Parenthood is in 134 of these counties. Eighty-five counties have no WHP provider. Planned Parenthood provides services in 64 of these.

But don't count Planned Parenthood out.

The federal government recently warned that states cannot ban certain health providers because “they separately provide abortion services.”

And Hons told me Friday that legal challenges are ahead over the defunding.

There's every reason to believe that Planned Parenthood will prevail. But if, by chance, a judge rules against them, this much will become clear about those vilifying the organization:

“They say they hate Planned Parenthood, but what they really hate is the people who come to Planned Parenthood,” Hons said. “They hate it when they use birth control. They hate it when men and women make those difficult decisions.”

These people are mostly low-income.

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These legislators are still fighting the same old culture wars and what they're saying is that these low-income women and the children they'll have are insignificant.

o.ricardo.pimentel@express-news.net