Despite the naysayers in Austin claiming for months that the Women’s Health Program would be unsustainable after excluding Planned Parenthood, the Health and Human Services Commission is reporting the program will be fully functional, despite losing federal funding.
After the Legislature excluded Planned Parenthood from the Women’s Health Program in 2011 for their pro-choice stance, the federal government threatened to cut off funding that provided 90% of the program’s operation. The state must include Planned Parenthood, the left screamed, or impoverished women in Texas would go without family planning and preventative healthcare services!
Gov. Perry assured Texans in March that the WHP would be fully funded with state tax dollars—without a tax increase and without tapping into the Rainy Day Fund.
That’s a promise he kept, as the Legislature passed a budget that fully excluded Planned Parenthood.
And after months of legal battles with those on the left looking to the courts to legislate for them, Texas is now officially allowed to keep Planned Parenthood out of the WHP.
To add insult to the pro-choice lobby’s defeat, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission reported yesterday that the WHP now has more than enough doctors to meet demand.
So not only did Texas cut off pro-abortion groups’ supply of tax dollars and push back against overreaching regulations from the federal government, it did so without tapping the Rainy Day Fund and without raising taxes or fees.
That’s a big win for taxpayers and the 10th Amendment.
No doubt the left will call on the Legislature to pump more money into the WHP this session, (or other sectors of government, like Public Education,) now that Comptroller Susan Combs is reporting the state will have approximately $100 billion at its disposal this time around.
If this teaches us anything, it’s that the sky won’t fall if big spenders in Austin don’t get their way. Let’s hope conservatives learned a lesson from this when cries for more spending yet again permeate the Capitol.
