Low-Income Births on the Rise in Texas After Planned Parenthoods Closed

A New Study has shown that there has been a rise in births paid for by Medicaid in Texas after the state decided to defund Planned Parenthood.

In a new study released today in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have found that there has been a significant increase in low income births due to the loss of resources that were provided at Planned Parenthoods.

The researchers, from the Population Research Center at UT Austin, say that their study has shown that Texas' closing of Planned Parenthoods and other clinics affiliated with abortions appears to  have led to more low-income women having children. Planned Parenthood used to provide birth control, condoms and other resources to help with family planning and safe sex.

Since the state funding was cut from Texas clinics, 82 family planning clinics were forced to close. A third of that number were directly affiliated with Planned Parenthood.

According to the study, of the 254 counties in Texas only 23 of them had Planned Parenthood clinics Although only 23 counties had Planned Parenthoods, they served 60% of the state's low-income women. Due to the findings in this study, the researchers said that since the 2013 state funded Texas Women's Health Program began, it made it more difficult for these women to access reliable birth control methods. One of the hardest hit was the long term birth control methods, such as the IUD that lasts for years in a women.

If you want to read more, please visit the LATimes.