During the circus that was the House budget debate last night, you may have tuned out as President Trump started bombing Syria. The Texas House approved an additional $30 million for the Alternatives to Abortion program. As NARAL Pro-Choice Texas describes it, “this program funnels millions of tax dollars to manipulative, deceptive crisis pregnancy centers that intentionally lie to and coerce pregnant Texans.”
Where did the money come from? Four sources: local park grants at the Texas Parks and Wildlife ($8 million), seed programs at the Texas Department of Agriculture ($700,000), and basic legal service support for poor Texans ($3.2 million) -- as well as TCEQ’s air quality program known as the Texas Emissions Reduction Program -- or “TERP” for short. TERP exists to incentive Texans to trade in their old polluting vehicles for newer less-polluting vehicles. This program helps cities such as Dallas and Houston improve the breathability of their air and helps reduce illnesses brought on by air pollution.
NARAL Pro-Choice Texas Executive Director had this to say about the move:
“It is shameful that the state continues to give millions of health care dollars to non-medical entities that lie to, shame and manipulate Texans considering an abortion, especially at a time when vulnerable children are dying in foster care, public education remains chronically underfunded and cuts to Medicaid for disabled kids remain in place.
Crisis pregnancy centers are not comprehensive health centers and do not provide Texans with the full range of available options. CPCs exist to prevent people facing unintended pregnancies from accessing abortion care and delay their care to the point where they’re not able to access abortion. These centers use scare tactics and provide scientifically inaccurate information to their patients and are ultimately dangerous to the health and safety of pregnant Texans.
It is unconscionable that lawmakers voted against a budget amendment to move this money to the family planning program and instead increased funding by $20 million for ideologically motivated CPCs and refused to fund legitimate health care providers.”
It is indeed shameful and unconscionable. State Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) pointed out that the measure would be contrary to “pro-life” values as the swapped out TCEQ funds would have gone toward improving air quality and would be a “grave error” that ends up harming people. “This would adversely impact the life of children.” (Austin Chronicle)
We stand in solidarity with NARAL Pro-Choice Texas and firmly oppose this change to the budget from State Rep. Mike Schofield (R-Katy) and State Rep. Matt Krause (R-Fort Worth). This hits the health of Texas women twice. It means more illness-causing pollution on one end and more deception that impacts the health and safety of pregnant Texans on the other. We urge all Texans to increase the pressure on their lawmakers to act in the best interests of Texas women.
(Image: John Anderson via Austin Chronicle)