Planned Parenthood´s Texas bus tour

 

Planned Parenthood has taken to the streets.  The abortion giant continues to blame the state of Texas for the shutdown of a health program that provides preventative care to low-income Texan women.  They launched a statewide bus-tour, coined the “Women’s Health Express,” to convince Texas lawmakers to reinstate the program – along with funding to Planned Parenthood.
 
Planned Parenthood began the 11-day bus tour last Monday after Texas Governor Rick Perry refused to comply with President Obama’s demand that Texas include Planned Parenthood in the Medicaid-funded Women’s Health Program.  The Obama administration gave Texas an ultimatum:  include abortion committers or all federal funding to the program will cease permanently.  Perry and top Texas lawmakers and officials refused.  Instead, Perry has said that he will find a way to fund the program, with or without federal help, and that he will still keep abortion committers out.
 
Planned Parenthood’s tour started in the South Texas cities of Brownsville and Hidalgo, with “Medical staff, patients, and community members gathered alongside women’s health activists to tell their stories and put a face to the issue — depicting the women who will be affected by Governor Rick Perry and Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s cruel actions,” as Planned Parenthood’s blog, “Don’t Mess with Texas Women,” explained. 
 
Even though Governor Perry has said that he will fund the program entirely with state dollars so that 130,000 women annually will not lose access to care, Planned Parenthood is still putting on a sad face.  Women may not lose access to healthcare after all, but Planned Parenthood will certainly lose access to government funds.
 
Last May, when the abortion industry was cut from the Women’s Health Program by the Texas legislature, Planned Parenthood lobbied heavily to reinstate their inclusion in the program.  According to Planned Parenthood’s own testimony prior to their disqualification, the abortion committer received 45 percent of the program’s entire budget.  However, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, stated that she would rather the entire program be shut down than for Planned Parenthood to be excluded.  In other words, if Planned Parenthood can’t have the money, nobody can.  President Obama is simply parroting her demand.
 
Planned Parenthood’s bus tour, then, is not about women’s health, but about Planned Parenthood’s financial health.  The less government funding they receive, the weaker they become.  Thirteen Planned Parenthood centers have closed in just eight months because of government funding cuts.   Planned Parenthood is desperate to hang on to what they have left.