Bill Text: TX HCR25 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to remove confidentiality mandates for minors from family planning services programs operating under Title X of the Public Health Service Act and Medicaid.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-03 - Referred to Public Health [HCR25 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HCR25-Introduced.html
82R4219 CBE-D | ||
By: Smith of Tarrant | H.C.R. No. 25 |
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WHEREAS, Among the four federal programs that provide funds | ||
for family planning services in Texas, those operating under Title | ||
X of the Public Health Service Act and Medicaid require family | ||
planning facilities to provide confidential contraceptive services | ||
to anyone who seeks them, regardless of age, in exchange for | ||
receiving money from the federal government; and | ||
WHEREAS, Established by Congress in 1970, Title X of the | ||
Public Health Service Act was designed "to assist in making | ||
comprehensive voluntary family planning services readily available | ||
to all persons desiring such services"; in 1997, these services, | ||
including the availability of contraception, were extended to | ||
minors under the age of 16 as a result of the United States Supreme | ||
Court decision in Carey v. Population Services International, 431 | ||
U.S. 678 (1977); consequently, Title X clinics can provide minors | ||
with free contraceptives without a parent's knowledge or consent; | ||
and | ||
WHEREAS, In 1972, Medicaid funding for family planning was | ||
authorized to cover health care services for low-income women | ||
through a cooperative federal-state program; in Texas, any provider | ||
receiving Title X funds from the state must also provide services to | ||
Medicaid-eligible clients, and, in accepting federal matching | ||
funds for the Medicaid program, the state cannot require minors to | ||
obtain parental consent before receiving family planning services, | ||
including contraceptives; and | ||
WHEREAS, Taken together, these requirements effectively | ||
force the state to provide contraceptives to children under the age | ||
of 16 in order to finance critical family planning services and | ||
reduce the likelihood of parental involvement at a time in a child's | ||
sexual development when emotional capacity is not likely to | ||
correspond to physical maturity; additionally, family planning | ||
programs operating under Title V and Title XX of the Social Security | ||
Act are not explicitly prohibited from requiring parental consent | ||
for the dispensation of prescriptions, devaluing the implication | ||
that confidentiality is a necessity and sending a mixed message to | ||
state administrators of family planning programs; now, therefore, | ||
be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to | ||
remove confidentiality mandates for minors from family planning | ||
services programs operating under Title X of the Public Health | ||
Service Act and Medicaid; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |