Texas Leaders Denying Uncomfortable Facts Resulting in the Downslide of Women's Health?

According to a myStatesman article written by Rep. Donna Howard, she portrays the notion that Texas State Leaders have ignored the negative results of the 2011 budget cuts and oust of Planned Parenthood from being a qualified medical provider, "Howard: Inconvenient Truths in Texas Women's Health Care." 

Howard is a member of the Texas House of Representatives (2006-present). She's directing this article towards the State of Texas, and more specifically, she's directing it towards the leaders who made the budget cuts and were derailing a study, done by the Peer-Reviewed New England Journal of Medicine, and were ignoring the uncomfortable outcomes that resulted in their decisions. I agree with Howard and her points. In the article, she references a study done by the New England Journal of Medicine, and it states, "the removal of Planned Parenthood from a Texas family planning program resulted in a reduction in claims for long-acting contraceptives and an increase in childbirths paid for by Medicaid, the state and federal health partnership for the poor and disabled." This is disheartening on a multitude of levels. It's unfortunate that the State Leaders decisions in removing Planned Parenthood resulted in less safe sex and more unwanted pregnancies, for these decisions ultimately don't affect the ones in power, but rather, the women who make a lower income and need clinics such as P.P.  In the article it states, "These critics ignored the explicit and limited scope of the study, as well as the inconvenient truth of the outcomes." Even after a reparable Journal of Medicine presented evidence showing the flaws in these decisions, the leaders refused to accept guilt. This is due to their more recent Texas Women's Health Program (TWHP) which has significantly increased the number of providers available, but once again, there's a hole in the story; the leaders failed to mention that despite there being a higher number of providers available to women, less are being seen. It's a cause and effect situation that's already negatively impacting the citizens of Texas.

Howard concludes her argument by stating that there is a newer "version" of Women's Health Care that will be used to help increase the number of women being seen for care, and it will bring the standards of Women's Health Care back to what it was before 2011. She ultimately states that no matter how much one denies the facts and statistics proving said facts, it doesn't change them, so one must take responsibility. The truth always has a way of getting out.

Racial Tensions at A&M University

On February 11, 2016, the Texas Tribune  published an article, Texas A&M Investigating After Black Highschoolers Harassed On Campus, which illustrated an incident where two African-American highschool students, touring A&M University with their school, were harassed due to their race. These two students were approached by a woman who was wearing Confederate Flag earrings, and they were asked to tell her how the earrings made them feel. This led to a group of, white, men and women harassing and insulting the the teens by using racial slurs. The A&M tour guides called the Campus Police, but no one involved was charged or disciplined. State Senator Royce West is outraged, and he stated, "A&M students involved in the taunting should be strongly disciplined, if not expelled." The University is concocting a thorough investigation, and after the inexcusable event, other students from A&M University reassured the highschool students that the majority of A&M would welcome them. It's disheartening to know that an experience which should be incredibly motivating and uplifting is jaded due to ignorance.