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Authors, sign in!Read this note on Friday, May 8, 2009, in The Dallas Morning News. I post it, not because I want to discuss birth control, family planning or related issues, but because of what the facts behind the report illustrate.
Read it and then I'll get back to you...
Under the Dome Birth control pill funds targeted by The Associated PressOkay. Let me see if I understand. We opt today to save a reported $7 million by not funding this health benefit for low-income women. Funds are needed because the reimbursement rate for the benefit via Medicaid has not been increased over the past 3-4 decades.A powerful Republican senator is blocking an increase in state funding for birth control pills, saying Texas can't afford the expenditure in such tough economic times.
The $7 million expenditure for the pills has become a sticking point between House and Senate negotiators trying to reach agreement on the budget. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said Texas women could purchase their own birth control pills.
Family planning advocates say the money would go to a subsidy program that a patchwork of clinics, such as Planned Parenthood, uses to help low-income women get birth control bills. The reimbursement rate of $2.80 hasn't been raised since the 1970s, they say.
So, we choose to let these women, all mothers and potential mothers, "go it alone" when it comes to their reproductive health and welfare because we need to save money during these hard times.
You gotta be kidding me!
Does Senator Ogden know what it costs to raise a child? Does he understand the cost to the State of Texas to protect, educate and provide for the child of a low-income woman or family? I don't even need to mention the cost and dilemma's associated with "unwanted" children.
Here we have a classic example of penny wise and pound foolish. Surely, surely, saner heads will prevail here. Tell me this is a joke, please tell me.
Published May 20, 2009 by Larry James |
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| Tags:
Family Values
Health Care
Poverty
Public Policy
Reproductive Rights
Texas
Women's Rights
