Women’s healthcare in America has recently taken some major blows. It seems like we don't have time to strike down one law before certain republicans are proposing another. For instance, just this month republican Darrell Issa convened a hearing to discuss President Obama's “directive that health insurers provide access to birth control.” During the hearing, not only were no women allowed to speak, but they would not hear from any of the democratic witnesses either. Instead they listened to catholic priests, bishops and ministers, all male, to decide what is best for the women of our nation. As a women, I am outraged by this chauvinist attitude.

More recently here in Texas, an article was written by Jordan Smith of The Austin Chronicle about Texas government's war on Planned Parenthood. In Texas the Women's Health Program (WHP) provides “basic healthcare and family planning services to low income and uninsured women who would not otherwise be eligible for Medicaid unless pregnant.” Out of the 160,000 WHP providers in the state of Texas, Planned Parenthood services 46% of these women. This number has grown every year since the WHP has been enacted. If we eliminate Planned Parenthood as a provider for WHP, that will leave 86,000 underprivileged women uninsured.

I believe this article was written for any individual who would like the government to stop taking money from important funds like the WHP. Funds like the WHP benefit many Texans and it would be unfair to our impoverished community to strip them of what little aid we give them. Any Texas who cares about the unfortunate would find this article interesting.

The author, Jordan Smith, establishes credibility with the reader by given them statistics from previous years. These figures all show that the WHP has helped thousand of women in past years and that these figures increase annually. She also establishes credibility by providing a link to both a letter written by the centers for Medicare & Medicaid protesting the new rule, and a link about the “gutting of the family planning program.”

I believe the authors claim is factual, logical and important. It is time we take a stand against frivolous government spending and put that money towards solutions that that are useful. Yanking healthcare from women who have no other means to visit a doctor is shameful. We need to take better care of our citizens.

MLA

Smith, Jordan. "R.I.P. WHP?." The Austin Chronicle . Austin Chronicle Corp, 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. <http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/news/2012-02-23/r-i-p-whp/>.

            The article I read is about the Occupy Austin movement and the recent arrests and rule changes that have affected them. Occupy Austin has been going on since October 2011 and is a smaller version of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Last Friday night, February 3, 2012, Austin police arrived at Austin’s City Hall Plaza at 9:45 pm and informed the protestors that they must vacate the premises by 10:30 pm. According to Austin’s new rules, no one may inhabit the plaza between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am.

            Many protesters left willingly but some resisted. Five arrests were made for criminal trespassing. Protesters were upset by the aggressiveness of the Austin police force. They reported being attacked by police with batons as the began to march down I 35. They were also disappointed that they were not given 24 hours notice to vacate.

            Occupy Austin is an example of people acting so that their government pays attention to what they want. These people are sacrificing hours and days of their life to “speak out” against what they feel is government hypocrisy. We, the USA, are a nation governed by the people and that is why this movement is so important. Throughout history, change on a large scale has often occurred when the population speaks out. So many Americans are raising their voices against our government supporting corporate greed that change is bound to occur.

            In the end, it doesn’t matter whether or not we agree with this movement because this is our democracy at work. Those that disagree are welcome to form their own coalition in opposition to Occupy Wall Street. I think this is an important article because it is describing history in the making. One way or another the people will prevail and I am excited to be part of it!