Previous cuts could lead to additional births, costs.
Unintended consequences from last session's budget cuts by the Texas Legislature may force Senate Republicans to add $100 million into a state-run primary care program for family planning.
Estimates show previous cuts could actually lead to 24,000 additional births, costing taxpayers $273 million.
Janet Realini at the Texas Women's Health Care Coalition supports the idea of using primary care for family planned, but admits money can't fix everything.
“It will be a challenge to be as efficient and providing the kind of preventive care, checkups, birth control, counseling and screenings family planning provides,” Realini tells KTRH News.
The debate last session primarily focused on defunding Planned Parenthood and any affiliates which provided abortions. Realini insists this has nothing to do with the abortion issue.
“There were at least 53 clinics that closed, and two-thirds were not actually Planned Parenthood clinics,” she says. “The ones able to stay open suffered severe cuts.”
Officials believe the money could double the number of clinics in Texas while providing care to roughly 234,000 women.
