The Texas way, in this case, is dumb
Texas has the third highest
HIV diagnosis rate in the country. Texas is
fifth highest in teen pregnancy rates.
Republicans in Texas are working on their budget. This past Tuesday they approved an amendment that would cut $3 million from HIV prevention programs and spend that money elsewhere—on abstinence education.
The GOP-controlled House overwhelmingly approved the budget amendment, but not before a tense exchange with Democrats that veered into the unusually personal.
Republican state Rep. Stuart Spitzer, a doctor and the amendment's sponsor, at one point defended the change by telling the Texas House that he practiced abstinence until marriage. The first-term lawmaker said he hopes schoolchildren follow his example, saying, "What's good for me is good for a lot of people."
What's good for me is good for a lot of people? Infuriating. So infuriating, in fact, that things got pretty interesting after
that little speech.
Democrat state Rep. Harold Dutton asked Spitzer if abstinence worked for him.
Shouts of "Decorum!" soon echoed on the House floor as Spitzer responded and the back-and-forth intensified. Efforts by Democrats to put the debate in writing for the record — usually a perfunctory request — failed.
When faced with this kind of obtuse thinking I find solace in the humor of
Jack Handey and his deep thoughts.
Texas is trying its hardest to follow in the footsteps of everyone's favorite State of the Union these days—Indiana. You know, Indiana, where they recently declared a public health emergency for a huge rise in HIV cases—due in no small part to Republican defunding and closing of
Planned Parenthoods in the state.
Texas public schools are not required to teach sex education and, according to the numbers, it's doing wonders there. But, of course, that isn't enough for the Republican braintrust in Texas.
Another Republican-sponsored amendment that passed Tuesday night would prevent schools from distributing sex education materials from abortion providers.
Texas needs better ideas and new representatives badly.