Texas Gov. says they'll find money for women's health program

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is directing officials to find money to help finance Texas' Women's Health Program after the state's move to kick Planned Parenthood out of the program endangered federal funds for the program.

The New York Times: Perry Pledges To Finance Women's Health Program
Responding to intensifying criticism about the Texas government's decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from a health care program for low-income women -- a move that the federal government considers illegal -- Gov. Rick Perry said at a news conference on Thursday that the state would use its own money to operate the program if Washington stops financing it (Ramshaw and Belluck, 3/8).

The Associated Press: Texas Looks To Fund Health Program Without Feds
Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday directed state officials to begin looking for money to keep the Medicaid Women's Health Program, even if the Obama administration revokes federal funding amid a fight over clinics affiliated with abortion providers. "We'll find the money. The state is committed to this program," Perry told reporters, shortly before he issued a letter directing Thomas Suehs, head of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, to work with legislative leaders and identify money to keep the program going if federal funds are halted (Weissert, 3/8). 

Dallas Morning News: Perry Vows To Find Funding For Women's Health Program But Doesn't Say Where
Gov. Rick Perry dismissed concerns that 130,000 Texas women will lose cancer screenings and contraceptive services, saying Thursday that the Women's Health Program -- caught in a political crossfire between his administration and the federal government -- will live on. The governor suggested that the state would find money elsewhere within its multibillion-dollar budget to make up for lost federal funds, but he wouldn't give specifics on where the funding would come from. The Medicaid program could be on its last leg because of a standoff between the Obama administration and Texas officials who want to ban Planned Parenthood from participating (Ingram, 3/8).

Texas Tribune: Anti-Abortion Advocates Blast Planned Parenthood
Countering Planned Parenthood's statewide bus tour to defend its status as a beneficiary of the Women's Health Program, leaders from several Texas pregnancy resource centers held a news conference Thursday in Austin to say that the program should move forward without Planned Parenthood (Tan, 3/8).