Texas vs. Women's Health

There are many things that the Texas government does that frustrates me beyond belief, but the legislators' "War against Women" took the cake last fall, when Republicans cut women's health funding by 75% in order to "stop abortions" and contraceptives, targeted especially at Planned Parenthood. Several hundred thousand women (mostly low income) lost access to important women's health services, such as well-woman exams, breast exams, pregnancy and STD screening, birth control counselling, pap smears, and other important health services.

What were they thinking? Apparently, they thought it would be a good way to kill two birds with one stone: budget cutting and furthering their pro-life and anti-contraceptive agenda by encroaching on family planning centers' and women's rights. The fact of the matter is, they aren't making a difference in preventing abortion (only 3% of services offered by Planned Parenthood are abortion), they are ruining lives by limiting access to vital health services. 300,000 women will lose access to these services, resulting in 20,000 unwanted pregnancies (which would cost tax-payers $273 million.) Legislators either were too stupid to realize the ramifications of these budget cuts, or simply didn't care.

Seemingly, they wised up a little last month, and plan to add $100 million back into women's health by adding women's services to the state run primary care program. This is relieving, but leaves many still frustrated at the fact that lawmakers will do anything to prevent abortion, even if it makes everyone's lives worse. In my opinion, to limit abortions, lawmakers should focus on sex-education (not the unhelpful abstinence only but REAL sex education) and making contraceptives like the birth control pill cheaper and much more easily accessible to all women.

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/us/texas-may-restore-some-family-planning-budget-cuts.html?_r=0
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/PPFA/PP_by_the_Numbers.pdf
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/20/140449957/gov-perry-cut-funds-for-womens-health-in-texas

The Daily Texan on Concealed Carry

On March 7^th, 2013, The Daily Texan published an op-ed on new proposed legislation that would make carrying concealed weapons on college campuses legal. The Daily Texan expressed the opinion that it would not be appropriate and that it would NOT be in students’ best interest. However, The Daily Texan was not completely biased, as they described an array of opinions on the subject, including public opinion. According to a poll from UT and the Texas Tribune, 48% of Texans support carrying concealed weapons on campus, 47% oppose it, and 5% are undecided. The Daily Texan also disclosed other opinions of public figures, such as APD Police Chief Art Acevedo and the President of The University of Texas express their disdain for the proposal. Texas House Republicans, such as Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio (who introduced the proposal) are supportive of this measure. In my opinion, I side with the Daily Texan and Chief Acevedo and belief it compromises safety to allow guns on campus. I would be very uneasy to go to class if people were allowed to carry guns on campus.