Texas cuts HIV prevention funding from Planned Parenthood

“The State of Texas continued its scorched-earth strategy in dealing with Planned Parenthood this week by stopping more than half a million dollars in federal funding the organization uses for HIV prevention and screening across the Greater Houston area,” said the Houston Press.

“That money, some $600,000 every year, comes from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but is administered by state health officials. And for nearly three decades, that money has gone to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast to fund HIV testing and counseling, condom distribution and referral services to connect anyone who has the virus with specialized care,” the newspaper’s coverage continued.

The Texas Tribune, on its website, reported on the cancellation. “In a notice received by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast late Monday, an official with the Department of State Health Services informed the Houston-based provider that it would not renew its contract for HIV prevention services.

“The long-standing grant, which funds HIV testing and prevention services, was set to expire on Dec. 31, according to the notice which was obtained by The Texas Tribune.

“’There will be no further renewals of this contract,’ a DSHS official wrote in the notice to Planned Parenthood.”

“Through the grant, which Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast has received since 1988, the organization served individuals with HIV in five counties in the Houston area,” reported RawStory.com. “Since 2014, the grant has funded more than 138,000 HIV tests and helped in identifying 1,182 people with HIV, according to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. No other Planned Parenthood affiliate is currently a recipient of the grant.”

In a prepared statement, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast president and CEO Melaney A. Linton said, “All these years, our HIV team has done amazing and admirable work and it is devastating that PPGC will no longer be able to do this work out in the community.”

The Houston Press reported that, “It's unclear if that money is simply lost or if the state plans on shifting it to other health-care providers in the area (state health officials did not return calls for comment Tuesday).”

RawStory.com quoted a spokesperson for PPGC, “’I don’t know who else is going to fill that gap, and I don’t know if anyone can, frankly,’ said Rochelle Tafolla, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. ‘Every time the state cuts these programs in an attempt to score political points … the true victims here are tens of thousands of women and men who no longer have access to health care that they need.’”

The Houston Press coverage filled in detail of the state’s war on Planned Parenthood. “The move follows the state's decision to kick Planned Parenthood out of the Medicaid program just two months ago. In October, state health officials announced they intend to block the $3.1 million in Medicaid reimbursements the organization receives every year for some 13,500 patients who use Planned Parenthood clinics for cancer screenings, HIV tests, contraceptives and other preventative health services.”

“In his letter to Planned Parenthood clinics earlier this year, state health department Inspector General Stuart Bowen pointed to a recent string of videos shot by undercover anti-abortion activists as undisputed evidence that Planned Parenthood is ‘no longer capable of performing medical services in a professionally competent, safe, legal, and ethical manner.’

“Anti-abortion politicians and activists have claimed the videos prove Planned Parenthood profited from the very legal practice of fetal tissue donation. Those videos, which experts say were so deceptively crafted that they ‘do not represent a complete or accurate record of the events they purport to depict,’ ultimately fueled an unprecedented nationwide assault on the organization that may have helped inspire the attack on a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic the day after Thanksgiving.

“The state has yet to issue its final notice stripping the organization of Medicaid funding, which the feds say Texas cannot legally do. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood has filed a lawsuit in hopes of remaining a health-care provider for Texas Medicaid patients.”

The Gayly – December 30, 2015 @ 12 p.m.