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Texas Cuts Planned Parenthood from Women's Health Program
Today Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs signed off on a controversial new rule designed to exclude Planned Parenthood from participation in the Women’s Health Program – and in so doing has likely killed the successful program. The WHP is a Medicaid-waiver program that provides basic healthcare and family planning services to low-income and uninsured women who would not otherwise be eligible for Medicaid unless pregnant. The program was designed to increase access to preventative health for women and to reduce the number of Medicaid-paid births. It has done both.
This is no small issue for Texas, where more than half of all births are paid for by Medicaid – in 2009 alone that cost $2.9 billion. The first year of the program, in 2007, the WHP served 91,683 women; by 2010, the program served 183,537. HHSC estimates that the number of women served in 2011 (those final numbers aren’t ready yet) will show the program grew again.
And although there are some 1,600 WHP providers across the state, in 2010, PP served 46% of all WHP clients – that is, more than 84,000 women.
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Keep your Boehner out of my Uterus!: If you are on Twitter, let's make some noise to get some national media on Texas
I love Tumblr but I just don’t know how to use it mobilize.
But I know Twitter.
And so I’m starting there.
If you are on Twitter and you’d like to see more national media coverage about what is going on in Texas, let’s let the right people know:
@upwithchris (hashtag #uppers)
(Source: keepyourbsoutofmyuterus)
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An educational moment, courtesy of Planned Parenthood.
I love you, Planned Parenthood, for so many reasons.
This is fantastic.
thank you planned parenthood. thank you.
They should do this with all TV shows - correct inaccurate info about reproductive health.
(via womancave)
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The High Cost of Birth Control
The other day I posted a coupon for NuvaRing, a form of birth control. With the upcoming charge to to make birth control without copays mandatory, people who aren’t familiar with the costs of BC could wonder what the fuss is about. A few key points on the cost of birth control:
- Women typically pay between $15 and $50 a month in co-pays for birth control pills — $180 to $600 a year.
- More than half of women aged 18–34 say that the cost of prescription birth control has made it hard for them to use birth control consistently.
- A couple using no birth control has an 85 percent chance of becoming pregnant in one year.
Here’s a chart with a rough breakdown of the cost per year of various types of birth control. (source)
Method Effectiveness Cost Per Year Birth Control Pills 95 percent $160 to $600 Birth Control Patch 95 percent $160 to $600 Cervical Cap 77 to 83 percent $35 to $60 Condoms 85 percent $150 Diaphragm 85 percent $60 Fertility-Awareness 75 to 88 percent Free IUDs 99 percent $100 (varies) Shot (Depo-Provera) 99 percent $220 to $460 Sterilization 99 percent $30 to $200 (varies) Vaginal Ring (NuvaRing) 95 percent $160 to $600 Vaginal Sponge 68 to 84 percent $500 Abstinence 100 percentFree
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Benefits of Birth Control
One of the (ignorant) arguments against affordable, accessible, birth control is often that women should just not have sex. I’m just going to assume that we all know the basis of why the is ridiculous, so I’m going to skip over that part. But the other thing is, birth control can have a number of health benefits.
I have been taking various types of birth control for about a decade now to help keep my endometriosis under control. Quite frankly if it weren’t for birth control I would most likely have a lot of internal damage, as well as really really painful cramps. Luckily, I’m able to keep things under control. A few other benefits:
- It potentially protects against uterine and ovarian cancer
- Reduces the intensity of menstrual cramping
- Treating endometriosis (as mentioned above)
Another commonly known benefit is clearer skin. Do any of you readers have additional benefits of birth control?
Today’s theme is birth control, via a blog carnival arranged by Planned Parenthood and the National Women’s Law center. Feel free to share your experiences, comments, and questions in the comments or via my ask box.
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History of the Pill: Why Birth Control Matters
Included in the video:
Since the pill was approved:
Number of women who graduate from college is up 5x
Pregnancy related deaths down 50%
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Birth Control Blog Carnival
So, tomorrow Planned Parenthood Action Center is teaming up with the National Women’s Law Center to host a BC Blog Carnival. Which I think is a great idea.
There have been a LOT of discussions going on over at The Chicktionary, but I wanted to go ahead and open up my blog for this too. I’m working on lining up some good resources and information about BC for tomorrow, and most likely Friday, but if you have something to add to the conversation or a question you’d like to ask, please do so! Seriously. Anybody. About anything related.
Let’s roll.
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The Texas State Legislature Has Voted to Defund Planned Parenthood
ugh.
Today in news that both enrages and doesn’t surprise me.
I hate politics. And Texas.
Yes, Texas, let’s ignore the fact that this has been overturned in Indiana, and Kansas is getting sued for the very same thing. Let’s just take federal funds and spend them wherever the fuck we want, even though that’s not how being part of a country with a central government works.
Maybe during his Prayer-A-Palooza, people will pray for access to safe and affordable health care for women. No, probably not?
(Source: diadoumenos)
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Saturday Morning Links
- I really did love the “It Gets Better” project at first. It’s a great concept. And now Target has jumped on board, despite coming under some heavy fire for choosing some pretty anti-gay recipients of their money. I felt the same way when President Obama made a video. It’s a great message. But you have the power to make some real change. Do it. Put your money where your mouth is.
- If any of you are in Houston, Planned Parenthood is doing free testing on Mon, June 27th for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and Chlamydia. They may be doing this other places, but I haven’t been able to find a list anywhere.
- Have you searched Google for words like “gay” or “LGBT”? A cute little rainbow pops up, but is it enough?
- The Texas DMV voted on a allowing a license plate with a confederate flag. The vote tied, and one member
was absentdied, so they’re having a do-over.
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Saturday Morning Links
- There was a lot discussion happening about the idea of a family raising a genderless baby, and the mother of baby Storm responds to the controversy via a letter, instead of feeding the crazy media frenzy. Props to her.
- That article from the Onion about the Planned Parenthood Abortionplex now has a hilarious spot on Yelp.
- A female self-proclaimed feminist that was on the jury of the NYC cop rape trial, speaks about the process and how difficult arriving at the verdict was.
- A group of three bisexual men brought a lawsuit against the Gay World Series. The men claim they were kicked out of the league for “not being gay enough”. A judge ruled that the league can keep the limited number of heterosexual players.
- Arianna Huffington talks with MSNBC about the stereotypes of strong women.
- Author VS Naipaul, a Nobel Laureate, says there are no women authors he considers his equal.
