One big difference between Obama and Governor Perry is that Gov. Perry knows that abortions are the opposite of health care. That is why Gov. Perry recently and legally denied to distributed funds to Planned Parenthood for Texas’ Women’s Health Program. Obama responded by unlawfully cutting off funds for this program because of this move. I guess Obama feels that abortions providers hold a higher priority than the health of over 100,000 low income women in Texas. However, Governor Perry recognized the importance of this program and promises to fund it through state funds.

Below are some facts provided by AFP-TX about this fiasco:

• Texas’ Women’s Health Program has been in effect since 2007, and provides preventive health care, including breast and cervical cancer screenings to more than 100,000 low-income Texas women.
• Texas law prohibits tax dollars from funding abortion providers and their affiliates.
• Under federal law, states administer Medicaid and have the right to set the criteria for “qualified providers” in the program, not Washington. This is exactly what Texas has done, in accordance with Texas law. Texas law prohibits tax cheats or deadbeat parents from participating as a provider in Medicaid, even though federal law does not.
• There are more than 2,500 qualified providers in the WHP.
• Planned Parenthood represents less than two percent of providers in the WHP.
• Planned Parenthood’s cost per client is 43 percent higher than most other providers, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
• In FY 2010, nearly 80 percent of women served received WHP services from non Planned Parenthood providers. NOTE: PP serves 45% of WHP clients. BUT it’s also true that nearly 80% of the women get services at OTHER providers. That’s because many women seek care at multiple places during the year. So any question of, “can the program operate without PP?” – absolutely, as nearly 80% of the women received services from NON PP providers.