What You Won’t Hear From Greg Abbott Today When He Introduces His “Healthy Texans” Proposals

AUSTIN, TX – Today, Greg Abbott will make a rare public appearance to unveil a series of “Healthy Texans” policy proposals. Meanwhile, the state of health care access for Texas women has never been worse thanks to out of touch policies championed by Abbott and his allies.

In advance of Greg Abbott’s press conference, we’ve compiled a handy list for you of topics regarding the state of health care for Texas women, which we doubt Abbott will choose to talk about.

Planned Parenthood Texas Votes supporters will be outside the event, raising awareness about the drastic state of health care access for women in Texas.

What you won’t hear from Greg Abbott today when he introduces his “Healthy Texans” proposals:

Why Greg Abbott has supported efforts to block access to affordable health care for tens of thousands of Texas women, stripped Planned Parenthood health centers of funds to provide lifesaving cancer screenings and preventative care, and supports shutting down women’s health centers across the state.

•  Thousands of women lost access to birth control, lifesaving cancer screenings and well-woman exams after the state banned Planned Parenthood health centers from the Texas Women’s Health Program (TWHP). This is on top of the estimated 155,000 women who lost access to basic, preventive health care due to the 2011 Legislature’s cruel and dangerous budget cuts.
• Women struggling to make ends meet have systematically been denied access to preventive health care including birth control.

Why Greg Abbott believes bosses should control whether women get birth control.

• Greg Abbott used taxpayer money to file an Supreme Court amicus brief and spoke out in support of Hobby Lobby, in its efforts to deny employees access to insurance coverage for birth control. Women already have saved $483 million in the last year alone from the birth control benefit. Studies also show that women who receive birth control with no co-pay or at a reduced cost are able to avoid more than two million unplanned pregnancies each year, which also reduces the need for abortion.

Why Greg Abbott believes abortion should be illegal, even in cases of rape, incest, or life of the woman.

• Greg Abbott supports overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. In fact, he believes that abortion should be illegal with no exceptions for rape, incest, or to protect the life of the woman.

Statement from Planned Parenthood Texas Votes Executive Director, Yvonne Gutierrez: “Greg Abbott’s record makes clear that he is a threat to the health of Texas women. Abbott thinks bosses should be able to decide whether women have access to birth control, he has supported cuts to funding for preventative care, and believes he knows better than women what decisions they should make when pregnant, even in cases of rape or incest. You can’t have a healthy Texas without healthy Texas women. And Greg Abbott’s record shows that he’s bad for the health of Texas women. And bad for Texas.”

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