The number of women served by a state family planning program in Travis County dropped 90 percent over two years, according to researchers at the University of Texas at Austin.
That happened as funding dropped by about the same amount, which contributed to the closure of seven family planning clinics.
UT’s Texas Policy Evaluation Project released a web app today that measures the impact of cuts to the Department of State Health Services' family planning programs.
“It’s one thing for a legislator to stand up and say, ‘Well, we’ll just have to see what you’re going to do without these services,’ but when you’re talking about a local area, clinics you know, people you know, it becomes more real,” said Joseph Potter, sociology professor and the principal investigator.
State lawmakers slashed family planning funding by two-thirds in 2011 as part of an effort to balance the budget without raising taxes.
