The mostly white, male, Republicans of Texas, whose party mantra is less government, are following in the Taliban’s footsteps in denying women their rights. With their actions they are saying to all women, “you are too stupid to choose the right path so we are going to make the decision for you” and use the Bible as their source of conduct. The Pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution and our Constitution guarantees the freedom of religion but not so in Texas where the state is controlled by religious Republican men. This group is harassing women with their latest witch hunt by denying funding to Planned Parenthood. Where are the women of our country to go to escape the religious persecution they are experiencing every day in Texas and the United Sates as a whole?
According to the federal government, for every dollar that is invested in planning a family, instead of just getting “knocked up” saves taxpayers four dollars in other health care costs. This means that the $60 million that the Republican controlled Texas House has stripped from the budget for family planning and shifted the money to anti-abortion programs, will end up costing tax payers $240 million. Planned Parenthood has been around for 90 years and does so much more than perform abortions; it does everything in its power to prevent an abortion in the first place. By denying funding to family planning the need for an abortion will increase. I may not believe in abortions but I definitely believe that the government has no right to tell a woman what to do and that goes for the Taliban as well.
Whatever your personal beliefs are about when life begins, supporting the bills that are being introduced across the country to cut funding to Planned Parenthood are saying that women are incapable of making the right choice. The women of Texas are so stupid that they need Rick Perry and Dan Patrick to make decisions for them instead of their families, doctors, clergy or friends.
The irony of the situation is that Republicans believe that life begins at conception but as soon as that baby is born it is just about kicked to the curb. As I have written about before, Texas children are 93 percent more likely not to have health care, are more prone to drop out of school and are 83 percent more likely to have a mother who has no health insurance with little to zero prenatal care. Texas has the highest rates of child fatalities from abuse or neglect. Pre-kindergarten programs have been slashed as well which would prepare these children for higher education goals.
Is the next step for the Republican Party to start stoning women to death if they’re not virgins on their wedding day? It’s in the Bible. In my opinion the religious zealots of the Texas Taliban and their War on Women has to stop.
While you make an interesting point, I hate to see the Texas government being compared to the Taliban. Many are upset by our lawmaker’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood, but defunding this program is a far cry from “denying women their rights.” The government is not taking the choice to abort away from a woman, they are simply saying that our tax dollars will not be readily available for a woman to get an abortion. There are still many places where a woman can go to get this service. Planned Parenthood will no longer be the “easy” option, and women may have to look a little harder. Personally, I would never willingly donate or give my money to help a woman get a medically unnecessary abortion, and I hate to think that my hard-earned tax dollars are being spent that way.
ReplyDeletePlanned Parenthood and its affiliates are responsible for 1 out of 4 abortions performed in the nation. In fact, this organization just released its numbers from 2009 that showed an increase in the number of abortions performed, a statistic that has increased every year for the past 15 years. The report also showed a decline in non-abortion services rendered. If Planned Parenthood made a commitment to more PLANNING and NO abortions, they wouldn’t be at risk for losing all of their funding. Planned Parenthood is actually severing its ties with one of its affiliates in Corpus Christi because the clinic does not perform abortions. Instead the clinic focuses on family planning, and 20% of their services (STD testing, etc.) are focused on men. This sever might actually be beneficial for this Corpus Christi Clinic as maybe now they can keep their state funding and continue to provide family planning services.
In sum, Texas is NOT taking away a woman’s right to choose abortion by defunding Planned Parenthood. Texas is only stating that our tax dollars will not be given to this organization—an organization that makes abortion a readily available option. If they want to render this service, they can find money for that elsewhere, and if they want to keep state funding, they can consider ending their abortion services.
http://www.texasrighttolife.com/a/605/Planned-Parenthood-Releases-2009-Abortion-Numbers
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2010/12/planned-parenthood-severs-ties-texas-affiliate-planning-parenthoo
Texas has tried more than once to deny women the right to abortion and as it is still legal today they have failed. Now, however, they are trying their hardest to get as close to denial as possible. They have decided to defund Planned Parenthood because they perform abortions and to shift the funding to other programs.
ReplyDeleteAgain, "Tommy on Texas" has hit upon a subject which I am very passionate about. And while "The Cross-Eyed Bear" does not think this is a problem and that Texas is not denying women their rights by doing this because the law still says it is legal and there are other places to go, I disagree with her. See, the cool thing about RIGHTS is that we are born deserving them; we shouldn't have to fight for them and we shouldn't have to pay more than necessary and it shouldn't be hard to gain access to them. However, if Planned Parenthood does in fact stop giving abortions, none of these will apply to a woman's RIGHT to have an abortion. It will become more expensive. It will be harder to find a place to go to. And while I don't want to go straight into the over-dramatic, horror stories of women going to Mexico or trying to do these things at home do come to mind.
We live in Austin and in Austin it might not be so hard to find a secondary source but what about in smaller more close-minded Texas towns? What previously could be done secretively in one day's drive to the nearest big city will now require research, phone calls, and other things that in a small town where word gets around could mean more than just being socially outcast (which even that shouldn't be happening in this day and age).
To sum it all up I think that Texas should stop being so damn predictable and should start trying to modernize itself rather than attempting to regress and cling to beliefs more popular before the 20th century.