The Texas Women's Healthcare Coalition (TWHC) is excited to report that lawmakers in Austin have moved toward substantially more funding for women's preventive care this legislative session. While the added funding will not restore access for all of the women who lost it after the 2011 budget cuts, it is an encouraging start.

The Senate Finance Committee adopted the recommendation of Sen. Jane Nelson's Working Group to add $100 million for women's preventive care, including family planning, to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) budget. This week, the full Senate will consider the budget bill that contains this funding. It is important to the health of Texas women that the Senate pass the bill with this funding intact.

The additional funding would be distributed through the DSHS Community Primary Care program, rather than through the DSHS Family Planning program, the program that was cut by two-thirds in 2011. (The Family Planning program was level-funded in the Senate's budget draft; the cuts were not restored.) The 2011 cuts resulted in the closure of at least 53 clinics and loss of access for an estimated 147,000 women.

DSHS anticipates that 100,000 women would receive preventive care that includes family planning and contraceptives through the Community Primary Care expansion. 

As Alexa Garcia-Ditta points out in the Austin American Statesman, much more is needed to ensure that Texas women have access to the preventive care they need to create healthy and productive lives for themselves and their children. Additional funding is needed in the Family Planning program, and the state must now replace over $30 million of federal funds for the Texas Women's Health Program. The state must also make sure that there are enough providers-physicians, nurses, and clinics-to deliver the preventive care needed.

Call to Action: Please call your state Senator and tell him or her that you strongly support the funding for Community Primary Care (Strategy B.1.4). 

 Suggested Messages:

• The Primary Health Care funding will restore access to essential health care for 100,000 women
• Funding for preventive care and family planning saves the state tax dollars in Medicaid birth costs

To find out who represents you in the Texas Senate, click here.

Texas #3 in Teen Pregnancy

New data on teen pregnancy rates by state show that Texas now has the 3^rd highest rate of births to teens in the U.S. The new report from the Guttmacher Institute includes the most current statistics available on both rates and numbers of teenage pregnancy and births.

New Mexico had the highest teenage pregnancy rate, and Mississippi was second.  Texas' rate was 85 pregnancies per thousand females aged 15-19. In the past 20 years, all 50 states have shown a steady decline in teen pregnancy rates, which is good news.  The challenge now is to keep them on the decline.  Hopefully soon, with the implementation of effective programs, Texas will be able to lower its rates to be at or even below the national average.

Texas also has the 4^th highest teen BIRTH rate (52.2 per thousand in 2010), and the 2^nd highest percentage (22% in 2008) of repeat births to teen mothers.  The Guttmacher report shows 76,400 pregnancies and 54,284 births to teens, with the highest numbers of pregnancies among Hispanics.  Thus, even with long-term and ongoing progress, the risks for low-income teens are much higher than for more affluent populations.