Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas is a chain of abortion clinics that provides reproductive health services, mostly to low-income women, in North and Central Texas. Like other Planned Parenthood Federation of America affiliates, the group provides services including abortions, birth control, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and other services.
In recent years, lawmakers in several states, including Texas, have sought to strip government funding from Planned Parenthood affiliates. Twelve states attempted to do so in the year ended March 2016.[1]
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas was formed in 2012 from a merger of Planned Parenthood groups in Austin, North Texas and Waco. Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas is one of three affiliates of Planned Parenthood in the Lone Star State. The others are Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, in Houston, and Planned Parenthood South Texas, in San Antonio. The groups operate 35 clinics in Texas.[2]
Programs
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas provides abortion and health care services in North and Central Texas. The group provided health care services to almost 70,000 people and health education to more than 15,000 people in 2016,[3] according to information published by the group. This included 5,774 abortions and 8,155 breast exams. The group also provides contraceptives, including emergency contraception, pills, and long-acting contraceptive devices such as intrauterine devices.[4]
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas conducts outreach events on college campuses and in the greater community to advance its mission of widely available abortion. The group held more than 270 such events in 2016.[5] The group hosts sex education programs for parents, youth, and teachers. The group reached more than 3,000 youth with its programs in 2016.[6]
Funding
As of 2015, the federal government distributed about $450 million annually to Planned Parenthood groups, including the Greater Texas affiliate.[7] Of that figure, about $390 million was disbursed through the Medicaid insurance program for the poor. In fiscal year 2016, Planned Parenthood affiliates received $554.6 million in government health services reimbursements and grants, accounting for 41 percent of revenues for the national office and its affiliates combined.[8]
Revenues for Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas increased by more than 50 percent in 2013, from $21.2 million in 2012 to $33.9 million in 2013.[9]
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas has received $3.1 million in grants from the federal government since 2012, when the organization was formed from a merger of other local Planned Parenthood groups.[10] The bulk of those grants were for to carry out a program to educate youth on contraception under Obamacare.[11]
Following efforts to curb public funding in Texas for Planned Parenthood, some prominent donors announced sizable donations to the group. Those included a $1 million donation from the Perot Foundation,[12] a $2 million donation from the Boone Family Foundation and Harold Simmons Foundation,[13] and a $1 million donation from the Eugene McDermott Foundation.[14]
Related Organizations
The group is closely related to Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, a political action committee that had $35,572 on hand as of late 2017.[15] Planned Parenthood Texas Votes was active during the 2016 election cycle, donating to candidates and spending more than $280,000 in the three months leading up to the November election.
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas gave $116,250 to Planned Parenthood Texas Votes for advocacy efforts in 2015.[16]
Planned Parenthood Texas Votes received the remaining balance of funds from two other PACs, Planned Parenthood South Texas Votes and Planned Parenthood Greater Texas PAC, when they were dissolved in 2016.[17]
Planned Parenthood Texas Votes had two registered lobbyists in 2016:[18] Yvonne Gutierrez, the group’s executive director,[19] and Dyana Limon-Mercado.
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas lists these subsidiaries:[20]
- PPGT Surgical Health Services, a 501(c)(3)
- PPGT Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization
- PPGT Family Planning and Preventative Health Services, a 501(c)(3) family planning organization
- PPGT Services Corporation, a dormant 501(c)(3) organization.
All four entities share a mailing address with Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas.
Government Funding Debate
In 2011, the Texas legislature excluded Planned Parenthood from its Women’s Health Program, a state-federal Medicaid program.[21] When the federal government said that the program rules would not allow for Planned Parenthood to be excluded, Texas devised its own program, with no federal funding. Planned Parenthood was not allowed to participate in this new program, the Texas Women’s Health Program, because state officials barred groups that performed abortions.[22] Also in 2011, Texas reduced family-planning grants by 66% and prioritized county health departments and comprehensive care providers in allocating the remaining funds.[23] In 2017, Texas requested federal funding be restored for its program, which was renamed Healthy Texas Women in 2015.[24]
In 2013, the Legislature passed a law requiring that abortions be performed in ambulatory surgical centers and that doctors have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Both of those provisions were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2016.[25]
In the four years after that law was passed, the number of abortion facilities licensed in Texas went from 42 to 21.[26]
In 2015, the pro-life group Center for Medical Progress released a series of videos that the group said showed Planned Parenthood affiliates were illegally profiting from the sale of aborted fetal tissue. One of the videos was of Dr. Amna Dermish, with Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, discussing the procedures she employed to perform abortions.[27] As of late 2017, the allegations of fetal tissue sales were being investigated by the federal Department of Justice.[28]
Texas officials responded by declining to renew a contract with the nonprofit to conduct HIV testing[29] and barring Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program.[30] The decision to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood was blocked in district court in February 2017. The state has appealed.[31]