The Impact of Reproductive Health Legislation on Family Planning Clinic Services in Texas

Kari White, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Daniel Grossman, Ibis Reproductive Health

We examined the impact of legislation in Texas that both dramatically cut and restricted participation in the state’s family planning program in 2011. Among the 72 organizations that received family planning funding, 52 completed the first wave of a survey (February-July 2012) about changes in service delivery resulting from the legislation, and 54 completed the second wave (May-September 2013). We also conducted in-depth interviews with leaders at 28 organizations about strategies they adopted in response. Overall, 25% of family planning clinics in Texas closed and 18% reduced service hours. Only 44% of organizations widely offered long-acting reversible contraception in 2012 compared to 70% in 2011. Many organizations began charging women fixed fees for services if they did not qualify for another public program. Although Texas presents a unique case, it provides insight into the potential effects that provisions proposed elsewhere may have on low-income women’s access to family planning services.