Priorities....priorities

I'm not a very good conservation starter but I know bringing up abortion is definitely not a good way to break the ice. This is one subject I tend to stay away from as people can be extremely volatile in discussing and expressing their opinions regarding it. However, a recent article in the Texas Monthly, brings up a very important issue regarding this topic and the efforts to curb the procedures. 

The main symbol of abortion in Texas is Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization that provides reproductive health as well as maternal health services in the U.S. and internationally. Planned Parenthood has been the target of elected officials and opposition groups in the past, and is back in the spotlight after a controversial edited video was released by an opposition group shows Deborah Nucatola, the senior director of medical services at Planned Parenthood, discussing the selling of tissues from aborted fetuses back in July. 

More recently, Texas Health and Human Services Commission inspector general Stuart W. Bowen Jr.  announced his department is seeking to remove PP from Texas’s Medicaid program. Medicaid, a social health care program for families and individuals with low income and limited resources, is also at the heart of this issue since it's a Federally funded program--however, the State decides how to distribute the funds which, according to Federal mandates allow any willing and competent provider to be eligible. 

It's quite absurd at the speed and the amount of attention the State of Texas to gives to this. While Austin floods again, Hidden Pines smolders and Texas Education ranks 39th nationwide, somehow this is a priority for our local government. Priorities....priorities. Somehow to subpoena (allegations of Medicaid fraud) Planned Parenthood to disclose the medical records and information of it's patient and another to disclose the names, salaries, home addresses, and home phone numbers for all Planned Parenthood employees to the State is a priority.

Yes...I get that fraudulent activity is a important issue to address but it's fairly obvious that it's not why the State has put on so much pressure on the facility. If the State has strong evidence against PP, then why does it need so much information from the facility in the first place. Seems like their hoping that if they throw enough mud that some of it will stick. Whatever happened to innocent before proven guilty?

Texas has also flirted with the idea of arbitrarily removing PP from Medicaid back in 2010. A report from Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Department of Insurance shows some of the devastating effects it would have.

The fact that the State would even consider weighing these outcomes because of it's stance against PP is appalling. It's time that the State start focusing on more of it's time, energy and effort on more pressing issues such as fracking, education and emergency preparedness.