Hutchison calls on Perry to work with feds on women's health funding

The fight in Texas over its Women's Health Program and the dual defundings of Planned Parenthood by the state and the entire program by the federal government gained a new wrinkle as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, called on Gov. Rick Perry to work out the state's differences with the feds.

The Texas Tribune: The Storm Over Women's Health Care Had Been Brewing
In the battle between state leaders and the Obama administration over Texas' decision to oust health care providers affiliated with abortion clinics from a five-year-old contraception and cancer-screening program, both sides believe they are the victims (Ramshaw and Tan, 3/22).

Houston Chronicle: Providers Try To Fill Women's Health Program Gap
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on Thursday added to the pressure on Gov. Rick Perry to save a federally-funded health program for low-income women, but state officials and local providers already are turning their focus to how to pick up the slack. In an interview on MSNBC, Hutchison called on Perry to sit down with the federal government and work out a continuation of the Medicaid Women's Health Program so Texas can get "our fair share." Federal officials this month told Texas officials they are ending the state's funding because of the Legislature's decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program (Ackerman, 3/22).

The Dallas Morning News: Hutchison Backs Planned Parenthood In Funding Dispute
Breaking with her fellow Texas Republicans, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison defended Planned Parenthood on Thursday and said the state should work to get back federal funding for the Medicaid Women's Health Program. "The governor needs to sit down with the federal government and work it out, so that we can have our share … of money from Medicaid to help low-income women have their health care services," Hutchison told MSNBC (Collins Walsh, 3/22).