Eve Ensler Appeals to Michigan Gov Snyder on New Abortion Laws As Texas Searches for Contraception Funding

Eve Ensler has sent an emergency video to Michigan women from the Philippines about the most anti-woman legislation passed during Michigan’s lame duck session. Click here to hear video on Facebook.

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Anne is reading …

Michigan state legislators have passed laws eliminating insurance coverage of abortions and imposing medically unnecessary regulations on providers of women’s reproductive health services.

The first measure bars insurance coverage for abortion services without the purchase of an additional “rider” at added expense. This legislation extends extends the restriction to health insurance exchanges created through the health insurance exchanges that are part of Obamacare, as well as private insurance plans sold outside the exchanges.

The Michigan legislation provides for a single exception for life of the mother, but not rape or incest.

In passing these lame duck session laws, Michigan legislators have shown clearly that they could care less about the voters of Michigan who made their views regarding the Republican War on Women loud and clear in November.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney failed to carry his original home state in November. Michigan Democrats picked up five seats in the state House in November, but the GOP will still have a 59-51 edge during the 2013-2014 session. There were no state Senate races in 2012, leaving the Michigan Senate in Republican hands with a wide margin of 26-12.

Michigan legislators also put new restrictions on reproductive health offices in an effort to close them. Facilities that provide 120 or more abortions a year will be regulated as “mini-hospitals”, even in the absence of established medical or safety needs.

Lastly, doctors are forbidden to counsel low-income and rural women online on matters of reproductive health. “Under such a regimen, patients are examined at a local health clinic by an on-site professional and then electronically consult with a doctor working at a different location who would review her health records, answer questions, and approve the pills,” writes the New York Times.

Texas vs Planned Parenthood

Texas’ request to force the US Health and Human Services to continue funding its Women’s Health Program even though the state has virtually eliminated Planned Parenthood as a service provider has failed in federal court.

The Texas decision affects an estimated 130,000 low-income women receiving a wide variety of basic health care services from Planned Parenthood. Texas had demanded that the federal government continue delivering funds to the state, a request denied by US District Court Judge Walter Smith.

Texas insists that it has found $40 million necessary to fund substitute services provided by Planned Parenthood, without any abortions. The funding is in place through September 2013, says the state, with $70 million of federal funds being cut off on December 31, 2012.

The state’s Health and Human Services Commission projects that without the federal funds, low-income women will deliver an estimated 23,760 additional babies during 2014 and 2015. The commission projects that state taxpayers will have to shoulder an additional $273 million in medical expenses and Medicaid coverage for those infants.

Their projection was previously on the table when the Texas nonpartisan Legislative Budget Board estimated that the proposed cuts would lead to 284,000 women losing their family planning services. Social conservative legislators insisted they were willing to pay the price — but of course, THEY DON’T pay the price.

Poor women pay the price, and the statistics on the downward spiral of unplanned pregnancy victims and their babies in the state of Texas is already at the bottom of the heap nationwide. Several media sources report that legislators are trying to reinstate family planning funding without Planned Parenthood — even though that organization is best equipped to meet the family planning needs of the poor women of Texas.

Texas 5* Unwed Pregnancy State

You Want to Defund Planned Parenthood & Title X? Look at Texas AOC Sensual Rebel

Texas As An Example of What’s Ahead for States March 2011

The state of Texas has some of the most restrictive policies in the US regarding minors’ access to prescription birth control without parental consent, according to the Dallas Morning News. Texas has the highest rate of teen pregnancy live births in America, according to a 2010 Guttmacher Institute report, while the state ranks 4th in overall pregnancy rate.

While we all celebrate the new survey results suggesting that sexual activity may be down among teens, Texas is a real-world look at what’s ahead for taxpayers. In terms of educational test scores, Texas is at the bottom.

• Texas is #49 in verbal SAT scores in the nation (493) and #46 in average math SAT scores (502).
• Texas is #36 in the nation in high school graduation rates (68%).

A Vicious Cycle

Only 40 percent of teen moms giving birth at age 17 or earlier finish high school. About 23 percent of young mothers earn a GED, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

The facts are that daughters of teen mothers are three times more likely to become teen parents than girls with older moms. Sons born to teen parents are more likely to be incarcerated. Note that the Texas Department of State Health Services quotes the Guttmacher Institute extensively.