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/>.