Abbott Asks Trump to Approve Federal Funding for Texas Women's Health

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott is asking President Donald Trump to approve millions of dollars in federal money for Texas to supplement women’s health care.Abbott on Tuesday encouraged Trump to accept the state’s application for a “1115 waiver” to help fund its Healthy Texas Women program. In 2011, Republican state leaders pushed Planned Parenthood clinics out of the women’s health program, which violated a federal law allowing Medicaid users to see the provider of their choice. The next year, federal Medicaid authorities rescinded the waiver that funded 90 percent of the program.Abbott said in a letter to the president that reinstating the waiver would build upon the Trump administration’s attempt to restore “a culture of life in our federal government,” after Obama administration policies punished Texas for its anti-abortion priorities.  Continue reading...