When asked whether Texas's anti-family planning efforts were "a war on birth control," [Texas Rep. Wayne] Christian replied, "Well of course this is a war on birth control and abortions and everything."

In case there was any doubt left that the "pro-life" agenda isn't just about restricting abortion, doubt no more

it's been obvious for a long time that the "pro-life" agenda is about much more than just restricting abortion. Sure, that's a big part of it, which is why, this year alone, we've seen more than 1,000 bills introduced in legislatures around the country to do just that.

But it's not just about abortion. Oh no. It's also about contraception. It's also about health care for women—and their children. It's also about balancing budgets on the backs of low-income families.

Birth control and abortions and everything:

Texas’ six-year-old Alternatives to Abortion program has consistently received increases in state funding, while organizations that provide reproductive-health and family-planning services for the uninsured has steadily decreased. This year, the state Legislature did more than cut family-planning funding, however. It also cut billions of dollars from social-service programs that crisis pregnancy centers and maternity houses refer to under the directive of Alternatives to Abortion.

You know what that means? That means that when a poor woman who is considering an abortion finds herself at one of these state-funded "crisis" centers, worrying about whether she can afford to support a child, she's told not to worry because there are great social services programs that can help her.

Except that these are the very programs that "pro-lifers" like Rep. Christian and Gov. Rick Perry are all too eager to cut. In tough economic times, tough choices must be made. And people like Christian and Perry have chosen to fund bogus pregnancy centers rather than fund the services that actually help women and children. Services, by the way, that have nothing to do with abortion:

The services — nutritional supplements through the Women, Infants, Children program (WIC); free medical care through Medicaid; children’s health insurance through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP); and cash assistance through the Temporary Assistance to Need Families (TANF) program – benefit Texans in need.

Children's health care. Food. Cash assistance to pay for such luxuries as, say, rent. These are the services that are deemed too expensive, and too unnecessary, to fund. If a mother doesn't have enough money to feed her children, well, too bad. Maybe she can stop by one of those state-funded crisis centers and get a pep talk.

Yes, this is a war. Of course this is a war. And it's not just about abortion. Or contraception. Or family planning education.

It's a war on women. A war on children. A war on health care. A war in which one side is perfectly willing to see people—even the children they claim to love—suffer. A war in which the rhetoric of valuing life is trumped by the reality of funding religious propaganda. A war that drives an ever-widening divide between the haves and the have-nots.

Rep. Christian might be a rancid, hateful individual. But he wasn't lying.

"Well of course this is a war on birth control and abortions and everything."

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This week's good, bad and ugly below the fold.