Texas Study Shows How Defunding Planned Parenthood Actually Increased Abortion Rates

Texas Study Shows How Defunding Planned Parenthood Actually Increased Abortion Rates

State's teen abortion rate and teen birth rate both spiked after lawmakers cut funding and closed more than 80 family planning clinics

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer, Common Dreams
Published on Friday, July 14, 2017

Illustrating the potential consequences if Republicans fulfill their threat to defund Planned Parenthood nationwide, a new study shows that when Texas slashed state funding for family planning clinics in 2011, the abortion rate among teenagers in the state actually increased.

The Texas state legislature launched a series of attacks on reproductive rights, beginning in 2011, when it cut funding for family planning services by 67 percent and restructured the way it allocates the remaining funds. These measures closed more than 80 clinics, including 11 Planned Parenthood clinics. One of the purported goals, said Republican backers, was to decrease abortion rates. As then-governor Rick Perry said: "We will continue to pass laws to ensure abortions are as rare as possible under existing law."

Continued at link: Common Dreams: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/07/14/texas-study-shows-how-defunding-planned-parenthood-actually-increased-abortion-rates