Thread by @TumaTime

EXCLUSIVE: In letters obtained by the @TexasObserver, #Texas Democratic legislators are asking the Biden Administration reinstate #PlannedParenthood as a #Medicaid provider, especially amid the impact of #abortion ban #SB8.
texasobserver.org/texas-legislat…
#txlege

TX House and Senate Dems write that the termination of Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program places Texas in “direct conflict” with federal free choice of provider law and request President Biden/Health and Human Services Sec. Xavier Becerra reinstate the repro provider

After a five-year court battle based on discredited anti-choice "sting" videos, Texas officials kicked Planned Parenthood out of the Medicaid program this February leaving 8,000 low-income patients scrambling for basic care amid a global pandemic
rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2021/0…

These preventative services include breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing, and annual exams -- not abortion care, which is largely barred from Medicaid dollars.

Now, #SB8 has compounded the barriers to health care for the state's poorest residents. The Texans most severely impacted by the Medicaid exclusion are the same group of people being disproportionately impacted by SB8: low-income women and women of color
texasobserver.org/texas-abortion…

Under #SB8 + Medicaid exclusion, these #PlannedParenthood patients in Texas "are not able to access things like birth control at their preferred provider, and at the same time, not able to access abortion in their home state," says @DyanaforTexas of @PPTXVotes