If you’re like me, you might be doing a double take. Take your time. Pause. Read the headline again. Your brain has not jumbled the words. It does say restore, not restrict.
If you’ve been following the gradual dismantling of access to family planning and women’s health services across the United States, you’re probably shocked and excited by this news. Texas is still trying to restrict access to abortion with new clinic regulations and a so-called “fetal pain” bill, but in terms of family planning and basic access to women’s healthcare, legislators are biting their tongues and working quickly and quietly to restore the funding that they dismantled in flamboyant fashion in 2011.
According to The New York Times, State Representative Sarah Davis (R) said, “The major difference is we’re not fighting about it. We’re just doing what’s right for women and the state.” Davis, who is against legal abortion, is the only Republican member of the House Women’s Health Caucus. She helped the two sides come together in a compromise. She attributes this compromise to the reaction of voters who were more than peeved that non-abortion providing clinics closed in their districts. Keep reading »
