Texas Proclaims War against Women's Health

Here in the United States we are promised the opportunities of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That promised opportunity is actually a law that is called the 14th Amendment, which says that neither the State nor Federal law shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." I for one strongly agree with the 14th amendment, and believe that no one should be deprived of our natural born rights as human beings. Ironically enough, the fact that the Governor of Texas Greg Abott feels differently, he recently announced that Texas will end Medicaid enrollment for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. Which to me seems a bit unjust, especially due to the fact there is no factual evidence!!!

Let me elaborate....

So it seems that Planned Parenthood has saddled up (filed suit) against the great State of Texas over its decision to debar the reproductive health-care provider from the Medicaid program. The Office of Inspector General (Stuart W. Bowen Jr.) at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission issued  a "termination letter" on October 19th, 2015 of Medicaid enrollment to the provider. The decision came after the anti-choice group "Center for Medical Progress" released videos that claimed Planned Parenthood providers profited off sales of fetal tissues, and failing to prevent conditions that would spread infectious disease. Stuart Bowen shortly after the release of the discriminating videos declares that Planned Parenthood is “no longer capable of performing medical services in a professionally competent, safe, legal and ethical manner.”

Therefore it is safe to assume that the case is closed, and Planned Parenthood is just wasting it's time, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!

Like I said in the beginning, Governor Abott has NO factual evidence to back-up his claims. The videos that were provided by the "Center for Medical Progress" supposedly proving the P.P. providers profited off sales of fetal tissues and that the company fails to prevent conditions that would spread infectious diseases turn out to be false! The videos turn out to be highly edited, recorded under false-pretenses, and are discredited by Planned Parenthood's attorney who states that the allegations against them are nothing more than just "trumped up justifications." Planned Parenthood charges the state with breaking federal Medicaid law under the Social Security Act, which ensures patients have a right to choose their own provider as long as that provider is qualified. The decision, “will cause significant and irreparable harm" to the provider and to the patients, who “will lose their provider of choice [and] will find their family planning services interrupted, and in many cases will be left with reduced access to care.”

Eliminating Planned Parenthood from Medicaid will save millions of dollars in federal funds. But as a result, at the very least more than 14,000 low-income women will be excluded from their trusted source of preventative reproduction health care that provides women with birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing, and so much more. This whole situation with Planned Parenthood and the state of Texas is probably mainly about religious beliefs, and whether or not abortion is killing, or justifiable. Albeit I'm not to entirely comfortable with the idea of  abortion,  but women (specifically the impoverished women) should have that option in a safe environment, rather than resulting in extreme measures that can cause severe body trauma, infection, or even death, especially if it's not done correctly.

People on Medicaid are already struggling financially, and a lot these patients are young, students, mothers, and people who probably work multiple jobs to make ends meet and face enormous hurdles to gain access to the best available health care. I imagine that Planned Parenthood provides a safe and comfortable environment for women in all types of scenarios; otherwise women wouldn't seek this company out, and would not have lasted more than 70 years in the industry.

"Vanessa Speaks the TRUTH"

Fantastic! Just simply fantastic! When Vanessa speaks the truth,
"Vanessa Speaks the TRUTH!" When I noticed that you and I both wrote about our opinions on the "Campus Carry Law," I quickly jumped the gun, (forgive my ridiculous pun) having no other choice but to indulge myself with your thought process. At first, I was actually expecting an opinion that went against my own, and was ready to shut you down with the blink of an eye! But then I couldn't help but notice that we both believe that passing a law which allows license holders to carry a concealed handgun throughout university campuses is a VERY BAD IDEA. I very much agree that students taking the law into their own hands could lead to an even more dangerous situation. I noticed that we both used very similar factual evidence to back-up our thoughts about this particular subject and couldn't help but find a smile on my face.

I very much enjoyed your opinion on the subject matter, and believe that you did a much better job on organizing your thoughts than I did. By keeping a good balance between facts, asked questions and your own notions, you were able to keep me hooked from the very beginning, and only wanting more when I finished. If only I had seen this sooner, I would've copied and paste it as my own work and turned it in!! I probably would have received a better grade in the long run!! Ha!

But in all seriousness, we as college kids are stressed about having to make good grades, keeping up with what's going on in class while simultaneously having worry about our jobs and the relationships we are in with friends and family! It's not a matter of "if," but a matter of "when." "WHEN" a student cracks under all that pressure, and just so happens to have a license for a gun, there's no telling what that student is capable of. I know that many like-minded individuals such as ourselves can agree that we don't want to live in fear every time we walk on campus where there's always a constant threat all around us. This bill only creates more unnecessary anxiety.

Guns on School Grounds Texas Style

So just recently, our Governor of Texas Gregg Abbott signed the "Campus Carry Law" on June 1st, 2015, which allows license holders to carry a concealed handgun throughout university campuses. It is said to go in affect in August of next year. Now, I understand how great of a feat this must sound for those gun-wielding Texas conservatives who are all gun-hole for the Second Amendment,(especially due to the fact that there are about 850,000 Texans who have concealed handgun license) but it makes me wonder if Gov. Abbott and the people of Texas understand that introducing concealed firearms into an EMOTIONALLY-HEAVY EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT could potentially cause an epidemic of mass proportions!! (Regardless of the best intentions of gun carriers of course) Yes there is the argument that having more licensed carriers who know how to use a gun on campus can prevent shootings, but what if that same person with good intentions accidentally kills someone innocent because the he/she looked suspicious: would it be worth it in the end?

So..................... with that being said, how's about I get into why I disagree so strongly with the new regulation set in place for next year; shall we?

Let's look back at the incident that took place at the beginning of just last month (October 1st, 2015) where an Umpqua Community College student (in Roseburg, Oregon) killed eight students and an assistant professor, and harming nine other people in the process. There were student witnesses in the room with the killer who claim that he asked multiple people what religion they affiliate themselves with before killing them execution style. The killer was assumed to be an anti religious, mentally-ill person with white supremacist leanings. Or how about the Columbine shooting that took place in 1999, where two students murdered twelve of their classmates, a teacher, injuring twenty-four others, and eventually killing theirselves. And if that has you thinking "oh but that would never happen here"  than that classifies you as IGNORANT because shootings like the one's above can happen in Texas and HAS happened in Texas. My last example would be the mass-school-shooting that took place here in our state's capital itself, Austin, Texas back in August 1st, 1966 at the University of Texas. An  ex-military killed eighteen people, and injured thirty-one others. Two of his victims being his wife and mother before he decided to go on a homicidal rampage that same morning; a man who was diagnosed with PTSD and also considered to be mentally-ill.

At this point you're all probably wondering why these shootings are ever relevant to the "Campus-Carry Law that I explained in the beginning. Well it's quite simple; these schools at the time did not allow concealed-carried firearms on the campuses and still don't to this day unless you are law enforcement officers. So imagine, if people can manage to sneak in firearms onto school grounds  undetected and shoot up the place, wouldn't the "Campus-Carry Law" allow students and strangers easier access to these kinds of environment and create similar or even worse types of scenarios? The University of Texas at Austin for example has about 800 academics who signed a petition opposing the gun law: There is even a professor who resigned his position at the university because he fears of the "risk that a disgruntled student might bring a gun into the classroom" and do harm to him and his students. That goes to show how potentially dangerous this law can be if not looked upon a little more carefully.

College is suppose to be a place where people can peacefully receive an education and experience new things. And when there are people who identify themselves with different partisanships (such as race, gender, religion, ect.) attending public schools with this law in-affect, they are more than likely going to feel de-humanized, always living in constant fear as to whether or not they'll eventually be targeted. There is a time and a place for everything, and sure, guns have their uses for good, but I still don't believe that should give guns the right to be conceal-carried on school premises to ensure the safety of the students and faculty.