Komen Foundation Part of Wider Effort to Systematically Defund Women’s Healthcare in Texas

Thanks go out to Katherine Haenschen for penning this excellent guest post, our first here on MaleFeminists.com.

The Susan G. Komen Foundation’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood are yet another component of the larger effort by conservatives to defund women’s health care. What’s framed as an effort to shut down abortion providers will in reality prevent many women from receiving basic healthcare, including contraception, pap smears, and breast exams. Here in Texas, where the foundation is located, it fits in with the larger systemic work of the Republican Legislature to defund Planned Parenthood regardless of the human collateral.

The news that the Susan G. Komen Foundation decided to cease providing grant money to fund breast exams conducted by Planned Parenthood was met with national outrage. Here in Texas—where the Dallas-based foundation maintains its corporate headquarters—it’s yet another component of the larger efforts by conservatives to slash funding to all women’s health programs in the Lone Star State, in the hopes of shutting down Planned Parenthood for good. We’re used to that here: over the past decade, Texas has led the nation in efforts to shut down Planned Parenthood, regardless of the female collateral.

Cuts to programs that provide basic healthcare services to women are unfortunately all the rage right now in Texas. During the 2011 legislative session, Republicans cut a whopping 66% from the state’s family planning budget. Though the effort was framed as an effort to defund Planned Parenthood, in reality it will deny tens of thousands of women access to basic heath care services, including birth control, breast exams, and pap smears. Republicans cut the biennial budget from $111 million to a paltry $37 million, and instituted a “tiered” funding system that makes sure Planned Parenthood clinics are last in line for the state’s Title X funding. As a result, Texas Republicans have ensured that many women—especially low-income women—will lose access to basic healthcare.

Texas Republicans also added language to the state’s Medicaid bill to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving any funds through the Medicaid Women’s Health Program, which in Texas provides 125,000 low-income women each year with basic healthcare, including birth control, cancer screenings, and disease testing. The new law disqualified any clinic “affiliated” with an abortion provider from receiving funding. The State of Texas applied for a waiver from the Department of Health and Human Services to be able to specifically exclude Planned Parenthood from these Medicaid funds. Thankfully, the state’s request was denied, as DHHS informed Texas that such a measure circumvents the Social Security Act. Now, in what can only be described as a petty effort to seek revenge on women, the State of Texas has considered doing away with the entire Women’s Health Program just to prevent Planned Parenthood from getting a dime.

But why should Republicans want to defund the Women’s Health Program? After all, 90% of the program’s costs are payed for by the federal government, and the program has saved our cash-strapped state over $37.6 million by preventing the medical costs associated with unplanned pregnancies. WHP is a great deal for the taxpayers, and a crucial component of providing healthcare to low-income women. Well, it turns out Planned Parenthood sees 40% of the women who receive care through the Women’s Health Program at their 66 clinics around the state. So that’s reason enough for Republicans to consider ending the entire WHP, and in so doing wipe out every family planning clinic in Texas—not just Planned Parenthood—that depends on Medicaid funding.

Any cut to low-cost healthcare providers in Texas will have a horrendous impact on our state’s ability to receive affordable care. Everything is bigger in Texas, including our horrendous healthcare statistics. In 2010, the Lone Star State had the highest rate of uninsured residents in the US — 26.1%, or approximately 6.4 million Texans, lack health insurance of any kind. For Texas women, the statistics are even worse: 28.1 are uninsured, also tops in the nation. In a state as large as Texas, this poses particular problems as many women in rural areas simply can’t access healthcare services. 114 of 254 Texas counties have been designated as “primary care shortage areas” by the Federal government due to the lack of physicians, hospitals, and pharmacies.

The decision of the Komen foundation to defund Planned Parenthood has been widely linked to their new Vice President, Karen Handel, who ran for governor of Georgia as a Republican on a platform of defunding Planned Parenthood. But it’s shortsighted to just pin this decision on Handel — it’s part of an orchestrated effort by Republicans to deny funding for the healthcare provider. And here in Texas, Republicans are reaching much further than just trying to prevent abortions, the ostensible goal of shutting down Planned Parenthood. It’s also about denying women access to birth control, as well as cancer screenings and basic medical care. As Texas legislator Wayne Christian said last year while defending cuts to women’s health programs, “Of course it’s a war on birth control and abortions and everything — that’s what family planning is supposed to be about.”

While I encourage everyone to continue calling out the Komen Foundation for their callous decision to deny funds for breast exams provided by Planned Parenthood, keep in mind that this is part of a larger effort by Republicans to defund the healthcare provider at every opportunity. If we want to keep Planned Parenthood’s doors open — and enable them to continue providing low-cost access to birth control, cancer screenings, and disease testing — then we need to vote for people who not only support a woman’s right to choose, but also actively work to keep women’s health providers functioning.

Katherine Haenschen is the Editor in Chief of Burnt Orange Report, the largest political blog in Texas, and a board member of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas.