Across the state, Texans face vast barriers to obtaining safe, timely, and affordable reproductive health care services. These statewide trends hold true in the greater Houston area, which is home to over a million women of reproductive age.
In 2010, almost a third of Houston’s adult residents and 13% of children in the Houston area lacked health insurance coverage. Research has shown that Houstonians of color, especially those who are economically disadvantaged, have poorer health on average. Houston takes great pride in its thriving communities of immigrants, but immigrants often face additional obstacles to accessing health care, including inability to afford insurance and fear of deportation. Houston falls short of federal preventive cancer screening recommendations for both Pap screenings and mammograms. Additionally, in 2013 more than 40% of pregnant women in Harris County receive no prenatal care during the first trimester.
The state of reproductive health care access in Houston has worsened significantly over the past decade. Under HB 2, the abortion omnibus bill passed in 2013, Houston would be left with only two abortion clinics — and the clinics that remain would be under great strain, as they take on patients from areas around Texas where clinics have been forced to shutter. Patients are also regularly greeted by protesters with megaphones who may illegally attempt to block clinic entrances.
Diminished access to reproductive health care threatens the health, safety, and well-being of Houston residents. We can do better.
