81R7695 BPG-D
By: Smith of Tarrant H.C.R. No. 91
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Family planning services are essential to promoting
reproductive health and, by extension, healthy young families in
communities of all types throughout Texas, and federal programs
provide significant financial support to facilities offering these
services; 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 81st 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
Services 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 speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the
senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the
Texas delegation to the Congress with the request that this
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.