They have access to funded birth control. Enough with the twisting of the facts. If they don't want to get pregnant, there a a number of free solutions that prevent pregnancy. Otherwise, are they really that poor that they can't afford a 75 cent condom? Really? "Planned Parenthood"? ... I think they mean "Planned Infanticide". OK you libs you can block this post now because the truth is difficult to deal with.

The number of babies on welfare in Texas is going to triple (at least) in about nine months.

Have fun.

It's simply unconscionable. The far right is shoving it up the collective backsides of America. It you object to religious theocracies like Saudi Arabia, like the one imposed by the taliban, you MUST object to the actions of the religious right. They would impose an interpretation of the bible which even the founding fathers would have balked at.

Can this country ever get back to the middle? Not with such polarizing elements as the tea partly, and other religious fanatics.

STexan: What funded birth control? 90% of the funds are being cut by the Federal program. That leaves birth control pills for those with insurance (the cost without insurance is prohibitive) and when you say that all should be able to pay for condoms, nice thought, but if you are unemployed, on welfare and food stamps, you really don;'t have discretionary income to use.

So let me get this straight. Texas sues to deny coverage of abortions against federal regulations. Then the sue the federal government for removing Texas from coverage due to their practices.

Don't give the state one penny until it treats its women like regular citizens. Run your health care as you see fit but don't expect the Fed to help out a state where a portion of the population is treated as less.

OK, when you allow the religious right to start calling the govt. shots, where will that stop?

When you allow the religious right to start defining reality, well..........

This is compassionate conservatism? Hell, I would never want to see just regular ole conservatism.

Teach your little girls that abortion is not the correct course of action and that there are wonderful people in the US that would adopt their mistakes (I mean bundles of joys), if only they had them in a foreign country. /sarcasm

STexan....it's you who needs to deal with the truth. The reality that the number of babies born addicted to drugs has increased dramatically, that there are still many children suffering from abuse, homelessness, or even worse yet, those that have no family. You want to preach abstinence, in some cases you're smart enough to at least preach birth control, but obviously it is not enough. There are still way too many people entering into parenthood that are unfit for the job. Let's stop trying to view this world through rose colored glasses, and see the reality of how it really is. Planned Parenthood provides services that are desperately needed in this country. But you just sit back now, ponder your extremist views, and hope you or someone you love never finds themselves in a situation where services such as these are needed. I'd sure hate to have to turn to you if you were my mom or dad.

And the fight to impose the extremist christian version of sharia law continues. Texas should lose all federal money until they quit trying to enforce their extremist christian values on people who have other beliefs. The lack of tolerance by the religious extremists will ultimately lead to their own loss of freedoms. The republican philosophy of divide and conquer is just a ploy to make the US a third world country, with the very rich and the very poor. Freedoms will be lost wholesale if they succeed, not so much by law as by the economics of effectively becoming slaves, without the cost of being bought, or financial loss from poor care. The aim is to eliminate all government assistance, including for natural and public health disasters. Be careful what you wish for, it could impact you too.

Now those nut "politicians" can figure a way so that each and every one of them can adopt and/or foster. If they do this then that just might cut down on welfare, medicare, wick, food stamps---'cause they should be adding their adoptees and foster kids to their medical, what have I forgotten here...

softdude, they will lose federal money.

The thing I always find so baffling about the arguments I hear from those who oppose abortion (which is legal in this country), is the chant "All life is sacred and must be protected!!!"

The baffling part is -- generally -- these same people are the ones always arguing for war, rather than diplomacy ("Get 'em, kill 'em! that'll teach 'em not to fool with America!!!)), .... and supporting capital punishment / execution, rather than life in prison without parole ("Fry 'em!" "Gas 'em!" "Good riddance!" ....and advocating not paying for after birth care for impoverished children and their indigent mothers ("Hey, let them take care of themselves; I shouldn't have to pay for them with my taxes!")

And the thing which is even MORE baffling, is that these people seem entirely deaf, dumb and blind to the obvious hypocrisy and logical conflicts in their "All life is sacred and must be protected" chant?

yeah, isn't Texas #1 for executions in this country....ok to kill an adult human being but god forbid should a woman even think about terminating a 2-6 weeks old pregnancy

stexan....as Santorums old funder said "they use to put aspirin between their legs"....is this what you are referring to?

why don't you all just take Texas and go back to Mexico????

If you don't want a baby, don't have sex.

Is teaching abstinence the reason why teen birth rates are highest in red states?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47003837/

Newsflash: Teaching abstinence has never worked, nor will it ever work.

P.S. What do you think is cheaper? Helping PP or funding all the welfare the babies will receive for being born to low income families? Think about it.

A dilemma is when you have two or more choices and they are all bad. A false dilemma is when you are presented with two choices, and there are more than two choices. Instead of "What is cheaper, helping PP or funding welfare babies", try "What is cheapest, funding PP, funding welfare babies, or funding neither."

What is cheapest, funding PP, funding welfare babies, or funding neither.

You mean funding the police and cleanup after the poor riot?

Of course Texas has never been backwards before; not like it costs significantly less to incarcerate someone for life than to execute them. So why not lead the nation in executions? Yee haw!

The right has so demonized Planned Parenthood that people are confused about what the organization does and where its money comes from. Here is a link to the Planned Parenthood annual report so you can read it for yourselves: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/annual-report-4661.htm

In 2010, Planned Parenthood spent money in the following categories: STI/STD Testing and Treatment ($4.2 million/38%) Non-abortion Contraception ($3.7m/33%) Cancer Screening and Prevention ($1.6m/15%) Other Women's Non-abortion Services (1.1m/10%) Other Women's Services including Adoption ($68,132/1%) and finally, Abortion Services ($329,445/3%). Planned Parenthood spends more than ten times the money on HIV testing for both men and women than for all abortion services.

Over 80% of Planned Parenthood's users are white women.

Now boys and girls, it's not abortion...it's "womens' health"....except it seems to me that slaughtering young, defenseless life is all about "unborn baby's health".

Better not masturbate, you're causing the genocide of millions of 'defenseless life'.

Joe S., there are no 100% sure contraceptives out there. Something as simple as taking antibiotics for a cold, flu, etc.. can nullify the effects of oral contraceptives too. If you've got a good job and can afford paying for your girlfriend or wives contraction and health screenings that's great. Unfortunately MANY low income women need PP's services for other things than abortion which only comprise about 3% of their business. The Hyde Amendment makes it against Federal law to use Federal tax monies to fund abortions also so PP would have to keep any federal funds from being used that way legally. The woman I've known who have had an abortion had to pay for it themselves even when performed at a PP clinic.

PP provided health care for myself, and many of my friends, when we were in college. Thanks to PP, one of my friend's precancerous lesions were caught early, and she was able to get treatment before it turned into cervical cancer, and threatened her fertility and her life.

My tax dollars go to all sorts of things, like war, that I do not agree with. It's not an ala carte menu. We, unfortunately, can not pick and choose what our tax dollars fund.

Joe S.- Your tax dollars do not go to fund abortions. Look up the Hyde Amendment.

Texans are truly one of a kind...

Less birth control, more unwanted pregnancies,

more abortions...

Brilliant, I tell ya, just brilliant!

Joe S.-761084 Since when is Women's health care about their sex lives? It is about preventative health screenings such as mammograms, pap smears, std screenings. Are you confused or something? Planned Parenthood spends 97% of all its funding on health care for low income women. Last I heard men don't get breast cancer, or cervical cancers. Do you have any idea how much these screenings cost? They are COST PROHIBITIVE! Which means unaffordable for low income women. Would you rather pay for these simple lower cost screenings, or would you much rather pay for EXPENSIVE MEDICAID for these women who get VERY EXPENSIVE CANCER TREATMENTS??

Wake up people and get some education! Quit looking at Planned Parenthood as a Pariah of society and look at the good that they do. These screening are unaffordable to some women, and it costs a lot less for the screening than it does to treat a major disease. Sick of the Republican WAR ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD.........

Not taking a side in this other than to say PP is not the only organization, group or clinic that offer the same services as PP minus the abortions. This has nothing to do with women's health it is about money and only money, PP just happens to gets 300+ million a year from tax payers, losing millions a year from the state of Texas is the real reason PP is up set, they are no better than the corporations that the liberals like to bash, except it is one they like.

So the whole sky is falling, women won't have access to health care if PP doesn't provide it is bull, just about every doctor that practices women's health medicine accepts Medicaid for services, so PP is by far not the only show in town, even in Texas.

A win for the Christian Taliban!! Soon, other REAL free countries will be invading the US to free us from our "terrorists" otherwise known as the "right wing GOP"!

Go Texas!

Texas is D U M D... let them become their own country... don't let the door hit you on your way out.

womans birth control, is more than a contraceptive... it has great benefits. it's a quality of life kinda thing... just like Viagra is for men.. and that is covered under insurance for "quality of life" we can't have 50 and 60 year old men running around not being able to have sex... men are such pigs... this is why the republicans will lose in November.

I notice that a couple of people from the pro-abortion side have gone off-script and actually admit this is about forcing Texas to pay for abortions. (The script is that the money isn't being used for abortions. The reality is that there is a shell game going on.)

I suggested in the other article that "Planned Parenthood" should split into two separate organizations, one for abortion, and one for everything else, and not mix the finances. That would make the Texas law moot. The facilities in question would no longer be affiliated with abortion.

Publivs, AGREED!! !00% However our closest planned parenthood is 1 hour drive from me and we have a womens clinic opened by the city under medicaid and TX womens health program only 20 minutes away. A full screening for an income under 32k a year with 2 children is about $20. The pill is only about $3 at walmart without insurance but the pill prescribed by planned parenthood was $7.

But you are spot on, separate the clinics and move on!! And could someone please streamline the adoption process, I dont care if you pay mom 10k for the baby. better in the arms of those that would pay than those that can't afford it!!!

Denver bill 2 (post #1.17) – Instead of "What is cheaper, helping PP or funding welfare babies", try "What is cheapest, funding PP, funding welfare babies, or funding neither."

I am sick and tired of hearing the whiny conservatives bitch about paying for “someone else”.

Denver Bill, you are funding both PP and welfare babies, and you will continue to do so - whether you like it or not. And there isn’t anything you can do about it. Because even if those taxes are eliminated, you will still pay for someone else’s health care. Always.

If you have a health insurance policy, your premiums are paying for someone else’s health care. That’s the way insurance policies work. The premiums get combined into a fund that pays for any policy holder’s health care.

Even if you don’t have insurance, you pay for someone else’s health care every time you visit a doctor. That’s the way the private sector works. When the poor cannot pay for their health care, all private sector companies pass those costs onto everyone else, including you. Those that can afford more pay more. You can’t escape it.

Unless …. You NEVER see a doctor, NEVER have a health insurance policy, and NEVER EVER pay any taxes.

Adam and softdude FYI TEXAS GIVES THE GOVERNMENT MORE then it recieves from them. Texas should quit giving money to the government!

And the Republican/Christian extremist war on women and the poor continues. I wonder what if this is what Afghanistan looked like as the Taliban was taking over.

tlb....give me a freaking break...first off it is none of yours or anyone else's business....period. a women's decision to have or have not an abortion is between her and HER god not yours

Its hard to believe that politicians can axe the health care of 40-100k women in Texas for the sake of an ideal and believe they are in the right... It won't even stop abortions from happening... just this provider.. Talk about throwing the baby out with the water..... they are against birth control... against abortion.... they just want women to be baby factories and not realize that alot of these kids are going to end up on welfare.

Remember in November, ladies.

Oh it will be remembered come November Kat, I promise you that!

as long as those republicans far off to the right keep the right moderate from actually doing anything... they'll lose in November.

Not worth even 2 cents.

The Bible qoute tells Christians to pay taxes, not stay out of government.

Do you have any idea how much of the current costs of health care is paid for by various churches? Lots of hospitals are built, owned and supported by churches. How much of that would go away if churches lost tax exemption? And you surely must have meant whichever is latest. You can't mean to back tax a church to a time before it existed or before US taxes existed if the church was organized before the United States.

Well Joe they made a deal with the government to stay out of government so that they could be tax exempt. Maybe not back taxes but surely they need to now start paying tax since they want to play in government.

That's all very nice, but the government of the state of Texas (not any church) filed an appeal. They didn't get to judge-shop. They got the judges of the appellate court. That's a spooky concept, I know. But it is a normal appeals process.

JoeS (post #3.1) - actually, the Bible DOES tell Christians to stay out of government. You got that one wrong.

Joe, You are completely wrong when you say, "Do you have any idea how much of the current costs of health care is paid for by various churches?" Church supported hospitals and clinics do not give care for free. They may be nonprofit, but they charge the same amount for services and they make money.

It has always been my hope that filming legislative members doing things like sleeping on the job (during session) would get them fired----It would get any of the rest of us fired----but sadly once they are in office we are stuck without a huge uproar---look what it took to get rid of Blago!

People seem to have very very fleeting spurts of anger towards legislative tomfoolery. Almost like hippy trustafarian's who go from save the whales one week, to nuclear weapons are bad mmm'kay, the next week. People simply don't follow through with these things anymore.

It'd be nice if for once, people stood up and really just made these people pay en-masse. Completely boot everyone involved from office. I'm not holding my breath though.

It would be nice, if the representatives did their job and served the people. But Representatives are slaves to the Fundamentalist Church, Big Business, the Banks and Big Insurance Industry and Wall Street. The Reps listen to those who give them the most money. Not we the people, Unfortunatly.

The Republican't war on the middle class continues.

And thats my Opinion

@ Magnum: Indeed, their allegiances are clear, on both sides of the aisle, and it's our responsibility and right, as citizens of this country to continuously hold them accountable. Big business can buy individuals, they cannot buy all of us though. If we continue to squabble among ourselves, it allows them to continue their own plans unchecked, the citizens of this country need to unify and say enough is enough, and stay on message until the people we put in office care more about the country and it's people than they do the money and power they can accrue by aiding the abuse of the system.

Facts get in the way of their ideology. It's unfortunate, but we can only hope that women start standing up for themselves and using their votes to voice their displeasure.

Nobody is saying that planned parenthood it ALL about abortions.

BUT as long as Planned Parenthood DOES preform Abortions, they get what they get.

the abortions that PP provides don't spend a nickel of federal or state money.....it comes from private donations and fund raising......always has - always will

Who cares if a woman has an abortion....it is not YOUR child.

Will I get heat for getting a vasectomy? I am stopping beautiful children that COULD be born so how can this not cause a similar problem?

Texas is all about loud mouthed ignorant yokels that cannot accept living in the modern era. They think they are all cowboys, but they are really messed up Jesus freaks.

The Grand Old Party has become the Geriatric White Male Southern Party.

Texans are kinda like movie cowboys. In the "real" Old West, about 50% of the cowboys were Latinos/Native Americans, about 35% were free or runaway Blacks, about 10% white, and about 5% Oriental. Most of the whites were fugitives from either the law or a bad marriage.

tlb1974, you have choice for what happens to YOUR body. You DO NOT have the right to tell all women what to do with theirs! Not even when it comes to abortion!!

tlb1974,

How many drug addicted or HIV+ children have you adopted?

Jw:

Who cares if a [man decides to rape a woman]....it is not YOUR child.

There are certain actions that we think are wrong. And we do not require the action to touch that close to home before we do something about it.

Lexiwords and Hambone:

Let me tell you what I'm hearing. It sounds like "we want to have lots of sex and not take responsibility!! Sex! Abortion! Then more sex!! Then another abortion!!" Lather, rinse, repeat. It is not my obligation to take over your responsibility before I can advocate not allowing you to get out of your responsibility.

Pvblivs (post #5.10) - It's not about sex. Birth control for women doesn't equal Viagra. A woman takes the pills daily regardless of sexual activity - not every time she wants to have sex. Mostly, they regulate the menstrual cycle.

Women’s contraceptives prevent benign breast disease, pelvic inflammatory disease, ovarian cancer, ectopic pregnancies, and endometrial cancer. They treat polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, PMS, von Willebrand disease, and even acne. They reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and anemia.

Not every sex act results in pregnancy. and not every pregnancy ends in abortion.

Jim:

Did you see a stance against birth-control there? I will grant that, when contraceptives are used strictly for birth control, they should be paid for by the people having sex. I also think that Viagara and similar medications should be a "pay for it yourself" proposition.

But this court case is not about birth control. It is about abortion.

Sorry, Pvblivs, but you appeared to be talking about sex.

Let me tell you what I'm hearing. It sounds like "we want to have lots of sex and not take responsibility!! Sex! Abortion! Then more sex!! Then another abortion!!" Lather, rinse, repeat.

These wacky laws ban both abortion and contraceptives, so I stayed somewhat on topic. This is about Planned Parenthood, isn't it? So funding was cut for contraceptives, too.

Jim:

I have already suggested that "Planned Parenthood" should be split so there is no mixing of the abortion and non-abortion monies. That won't happen, of course. There will never be enough support for abortion on its own to keep that side funded. It's the only reason they mess around with anything else. It makes their image look better.

ME: You are aware of course that most insurance plans do pay for Men's Viagra, right???

ME: Women who take oral contraceptives are protecting themselves, yes, but also their male partners. Do men really want the expense & responsibility of all the children they are participating in creating? Also, you do realize that the vast majority of insurance covers ED drugs, right?

And that most insurance plan do not pay for birth control pills....regardless as to whether they are for hormonal imbalances (i.e., real medical needs) or for BC.

me-497567:

You my friend are foolish. Birth control is not only used to prevent pregnancy (or as you so ignorantly put it "to have sex"), but also as an effective way to treat ovarian systs and primarily to control a womans menstration cycle. Think before you speak, or maybe try reading about the topic before you leave some stupid comment. Its so funny how ignorant our society is. Why is this even an issue anymore? We live in the 21st century People. Grow the F up already! Oh and by the way, the difference between birth control and viagra is that Viagra causes you to become arroused, while birth control allows a woman to take control of her body.

Totaly agree. Sex, if not done for conscious reproduction (wanted children) is just a form of entertainment. As such, it should be paid for by the paricipants who are having fun. It is tha same as going to any sport or any other entrtainment venue (concerts, bars, casinos). However, while all alternative forms of entertaiment require instant fee, the "having sex fun" carries possible minimum of 18 years price ticket, and should be footed by the people, who eventualy procure such an expense. Private donors have the right to foot such a bill at their own free will.

If the abortion is taken out from the menu of birth control services, the money from taxes will flow, as long as taxes are extorted from the US population.

@Smoothoperator

You do realize that no tax dollars go to paying for abortions? It's called the Hyde Amendment.

Scubasteve:

I am aware of the creative bookkeeping. But money flows freely between the abortion and non-abortion aspects of that organization. Therefore, despite the official claims, tax dollars are funding abortions. If you split the organization so that the money doesn't flow, then I will believe that tax dollars are not being used to fund abortions.

Smoothoperater - who contributed to the Cowboys Stadium? Any public money in there, since you are so into the sporting examples.

Methinks Texas and a few other states (Arizona?) are vying for the chance to hold the capital of the new Dumbfux Republic that is about to secede from the US.

my thought exactly...if you don't want this in your "program" and the federal gov't says it must be...then fend for yourself......let the holy rollers in texas pay your way Mr. Perry

Your kidding right?

My kidding? No, the kidding is all yours.

I completely agree, Human.

the lie will continue until all of the US of A bows to their religion.....they don't care that abortion is a decision that a woman must make between her and her own GOd and self...all they care about is their wackadoo ways and getting elected......

90% and 2% are close. Facts are numbers are like the plague to these people! Goooo Jesus!

As long as they take Bush and Perry with them when they secede i am all for it

I want them to take AZ, AL, KS, OK and now perhaps FL with them. We should just divide the country up and let the Relgious country fight amongst themselves for who god gets to rule down there. Because most assuredly when it is a fight to be religious they don`t care but as soon as they got to be in charge then it would all be about whose god was right, whose bible was right, whether it is or is not literal (the Taliban are literalists by the way), and so forth and so on. The only way any of them could immigrate to the secular US would be to disavow all religious affiliations beyond their sunday church services. Otherwise, they would just be trying to expand their control again.

Perhaps, perhaps not. Once they lose their federal funding they will likely have to dissolve their womens health program.

That is the way it goes sometimes.

NO SEX FOR POOR PEOPLE!! GOP 2012!!!

Well now cyclonejohn, how does one be responsible without the tools necessary to prevent pregnancy. Oh and BTW these clinics perform most women's health services such as annual pap smears and reproductive physicals, mamograms, VD screening and HIV testing, etc. You know ignorance is a very self limiting affliction

My point is, there are other women's health providers besides PP.

Cyclone -

If there are so many other providers of low-income womens health-care in Texas then it should be easy for you to list them here ->

Without PP you will have *more* unwanted pregnancies in Texas, along with the costs that go along with them. More access to PP means fewer crisis pregnancies.

Evan a texan should be able to understand that, but in my experience that's a lot to expect...

Crisis pregnancies? Let them pay for their own lack of responsibility.

I thought Florida was full of (northern) idiots, but thank God for Texass, as they make us look like genius's down here. It's a head-to-head competition to see who has the stupiest Governor (I have to give Skeletor Scott the nod here, as he was able to purchase his Governorship outright!), but I do think they hold the lead for the most brain dead constituents, as I don't think anyone here could really come up with some of the comments on here, (mostly from Texass). I believe the drought must have dried up their brains!

Cyclonejohn, if a woman gets pregnant as a result of being raped (hense the term "crisis pregnancies"), tough s*%t, right? She should've known better and been a bit more responsible?

Asshat.

cyclonejohn, no birth control is 100%. A couple can be responsible, and be using birth control, and have it fail. Also, not all women who use PP are "on the dole." Myself, and many of my friends used them in college, and, trust me, none of us were on welfare.

It's the same as the poor, ignorant right wingers who hate the assistance programs but are on welfare and every gov't assistance program out there.

It's the entitlement mentality that is rampant in our country today. What do you mean you aren't going to "GIVE" me money? I'll just sue you and make you give it to me. The sad part is that if you stay in court long enough, you'll find a judge that sees things your way.