AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A fight to keep state money from abortion providers and affiliates like Planned Parenthood has potentially terminated a key health care program serving hundreds of thousands of low-income women.

The Women's Health Program is set to expire this December unless renewed by law, and the senator sponsoring the legislation says he doesn't have the votes to bring the bill up for consideration on the Senate floor.

While Sen. Bob Deuell has the chamber's 19 Republicans on board, he said none of the Democrats are comfortable voting for the bill, which would renew the program for five years but bars Planned Parenthood and abortion affiliates from continuing as members. Twenty-one senators normally must vote to allow floor debate on a bill, so two Democrats would have to join the Republicans.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.