This week I’m going to show, any of you that read
this, why the title of my blog is “Somewhere to the right of center”, because
it is stuff like the following that keeps me in the center of politics and not
able to get on board with the right or the left all the way.
Apparently,
the Texas Legislature last summer decided that federal funding need not be
spent on any of the programs that the Texas Medicaid Women’s Health
Program (TMWHP) provided to low-income women around the state. The Texas
Legislature passed the law that bans funding for clinics affiliated with abortion
providers, even if it affects services that are not abortions. The Women’s
Health Program, “Provides birth control, annual exams [such as pap smears and
mammograms] and other services to an estimated 100,000 women across the Lone
Star State.” (Fox News.com) The program uses approximately 90% federal funds (about
$34 million annually) and the rest comes from the state, which last year was
around an additional $7 million, for a total of $41 million.
When the State of Texas
passed this law, the Obama administration, I believe, tried to use a scare
tactic against the lawmakers and promised to cut all federal funding for the
TMWHP. When in actuality, right-wing conservatives, (which is most of the Texas
Legislature, and totally Pro-life mind-you), seem to just want Planned Parenthood
out of Texas, because it doesn’t fit into their individual political platforms
and the moral standings among their co-workers. Of course, in true political fashion,
they have no idea how to replace such a program, nor has the governor or
legislature come up with the nearly $35 million dollars that will be cut for
women’s healthcare from the fed. All that the low income women in Texas have is
Governor Perry’s word that he “will not let the program die”. I guess we will have
to see what happens in the weeks to come.
Here is where things
like this just seem idiotic to me. The Obama Administration made good on their
threat, because they say that it is a women’s right to pick the provider that
she wants to go to, as long as it is done by a qualified clinic. The Texas
Legislature and Governor Perry want Planned Parenthood out of Texas so badly, that
they are saying that, it is the states right, under federal law, to determine
qualified providers in the program. Again, how does cutting funding for a
public program benefit anybody, when in actuality it is hurting the people that
need it the most? I truly hate to see the ‘people’ get affected by political
games being played out in Washington, DC. Only time will tell the outcome of all
of this, so we will have to stand by and play the waiting game to see what side
does right for the people and puts their political agendas aside
