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“Only 48 percent of Texans have private health insurance, and more than a quarter of the state’s population has no insurance at all, more than any other state. To fill this gap, the state’s hospital emergency rooms and dozens of women’s health clinics have stepped in to serve the uninsured across Texas.”

The State’s Family Planning Solution

The budget cuts to family planning clinics won’t in the end save Texas money. The state estimates nearly 300,000 women will lose access to family planning services, resulting in roughly 20,000 additional unplanned births. Texas already spends $1.3 billion on teen pregnancies — more than any other state.

In San Antonio alone, unplanned children born to teens would fill 175 kindergarten classrooms each year. What’s particularly galling to family planning advocates is that part of the money, $8.4 million, that was cut from family planning will now go to Crisis Pregnancy Centers around the state. Crisis Pregnancy Centers are part of the pro-life movement’s answer to family planning clinics.

The Downtown Pregnancy Center’s office in Dallas is located inside First Baptist Church’s building, historically one of the most conservative and powerful Baptist churches in North Texas. Although it looks similar to a doctor’s office, it is not a medical clinic; there are no well-woman examinations, no contraception services, free or paid, and no Pap smears.

There are 165 Crisis Pregnancy Centers across Texas, and plenty won’t take any state money. The Downtown Pregnancy Center doesn’t. The centers are for women who are willing to keep their babies or give them up for adoption. But clinic president Caroline Cline says, heartbreakingly, only 1 to 2 percent are willing to let their babies be adopted. Cline says teens will say to her, “I’d rather abort than give my baby up for adoption.”

“It’s disappointing, it’s very disappointing,” she says.

The Crisis Pregnancy Centers put up billboards letting frightened pregnant teens know that these are places they can turn to for help, but that can lead to a bit of a misunderstanding. The clinic gets calls from people asking what kind of abortions they offer and how much abortions cost, Cline says.

Nevertheless, these young women are not turned away.

“We let them know that we don’t refer for abortion or perform abortions here, but we’re a great place to start,” Cline says.

The fact that millions of dollars that once went to family planning clinics will, in the future, go to Crisis Pregnancy Centers across Texas causes no small amount of bitterness among those who staff the women’s health clinics. It’s a feeling they’re probably going to have to get used to.”