providing necessary care

Despite massive funding cuts, Planned Parenthood stands strong in East Austin

Photo by Viana Vallejo
Lobby Day 2011 in front of The Capitol.
Photo by Stacey Halper

The war for women’s health continues. Despite efforts to cut its funding, Planned Parenthood stands strong — ensuring Austin’s uninsured women have the basic right to healthcare.

The last time we talked to Planned Parenthood in August, it was becoming completely defunded. The Department of State Health Services notified the organization that its downtown location’s funding would be revoked starting September 1^st.

But thanks to Planned Parenthood’s hard work and Austin’s support, the downtown clinic is still open for business. And it has enough funds to continue providing free services to its patients until next September.

The clinic off of East 7^th Street has been open for over 70 years. It is just one of three locations in Austin, and all of them serve 33,000 clients each year. This location provides free breast and cervical cancer screenings, free tests for Sexually Transmitted Infections, birth control and a proven successful teen pregnancy prevention program for parents and adolescents.

In just a few short months following the funding notification, Planned Parenthood mobilized the Austin community under the Austin Stands With Planned Parenthood campaign.

In fact, Sarah Wheat, Interim Co-CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region, has been overwhelmed by the community’s response. She states that Planned Parenthood has amassed over 800 local Austinites, who “have donated a total of $345,000 which has provided free health screenings and exams to 379 clients to date.”

She says that everyone at Planned Parenthood feels “rewarded and proud that over 300 clients can be seen with these funds.” She continues that Austinites have not just donated to a good cause; they have donated to directly change lives.

Many previous clients donated to Planned Parenthood. One woman says: “When I was a broke single mother, Planned Parenthood was my only doctor.”

And another proclaims: “Planned Parenthood literally saved my life through cervical cancer screening, which I could not afford anywhere else.”

The women whom Planned Parenthood serves are as diverse as the Austin population itself. Women range from 18-35 years old. They are mothers, students, immigrants, children, families and hard workers. Most work two jobs; unfortunately, the jobs just do not provide the insurance necessary to cover life-saving preventative healthcare.

One man Planned Parenthood profiled says that the organization was there for him to provide education:

“Throughout my life, with minimum wage jobs or in school, Planned Parenthood has been there when I’ve needed their screening services. The added bonus with Planned Parenthood is that their staff asks questions that help to eradicate myths about men’s health, STI’s and pregnancy. I’m forever grateful that Planned Parenthood is the best source for men and women looking to empower themselves with sexual health information.”

Another woman says Planned Parenthood saved her life when she couldn’t afford a cancer screening anywhere else:

“Planned Parenthood continued to provide — require actually — basic health screenings such as weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, and a gynecological exams long as I was receiving birth control services. It was on one of these exams that Planned Parenthood staff found pre-cancerous cells on my pap smear and arranged for me to have early treatment for cervical cancer from one of the physicians in the community. If not for that exam, I might not be alive today.”

Wheat says that one in five women go to Planned Parenthood at some point in their lives. But since the funding cuts, Austin has lost 1.4 million dollars to treat Austin’s women.

Now, more than ever, the organization continues to need Austin’s support. Planned Parenthood continues to accept donations. And each dollar donated to the campaign will go directly to the downtown clinic: directly to the women who need it the most.

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San Antonio leads Texas on ending horse-drawn carriage rides by 2030

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Horses will no longer pull carriages on the streets of downtown San Antonio.

San Antonio has pulled off something that the rest of Texas has yet to do, but it didn't come without some contentious conversations. City Council has unanimously voted (with one abstention) to phase out the use of horse-drawn carriages over the next five years. That means by January 1, 2030, there will be none on the streets at all; instead, there will be electric carriages.

These plans have been in the making since 2022 — if not always at the same level of intensity — when District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 3 Councilmember Phyllis Viagran wrote up some concerns about the horses' wellbeing. A special session at the end of October 2024 hinted to San Antonians that the end for this practice was neigh — sorry, nigh — and the final vote was made on December 12. In addition to accepting the plan, it extended its timeframe by two years.

The initial proposal included worries about the horses' exposure to traffic and pollution, as well how their presence might exacerbate those issues for the environment at large by slowing traffic. It also raised concerns about the effects of standing or walking on hard surfaces for too long, or spending time in extreme weather.

At the December 12 meeting, San Antonians gave impassioned speeches about animal welfare — both to call attention to the need for better conditions and to defend the reputations and jobs of current horse drivers — but it wasn't the first time the council heard from the public about the issue.

In a prior city survey, 50,476 respondents weighed in. Of those respondents, 51.98 percent said they liked the idea to "Transition horse-drawn carriages to electric carriages and pedicabs and ban horse drawn carriages completely." There were alternative solutions listed, but respondents were less drawn to them.

A cultural divide emerged in the data and continued in the December meeting: some people avoided the carriages because they worried about the treatment of the horses, while others enjoyed them because of their historical echoes and living legacy. Many speakers in favor of the plan used this to form their argument, raising questions about history versus progress.

More tangible objections to the plan hinged on the businesses — specifically five companies — and jobs that would be lost, which was the main factor behind extending the adjustment period.

Discussions about the particulars of the electric vehicles are still to come, as confirmed in the discussion near the end of the meeting. Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez addressed concerns about what would happen to the horses, mentioning the Brady Hunter Foundation as a future partner in finding them rescue homes.

Some council members also brought up rhetorical questions about animal exploitation by groups like Sea World, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, military and police forces, and even various groups in the Fiesta parade, although these did not come with a formal motion to pick the issues up.

This decision could have a ripple effect on other Texas cities. Dallas has recently considered a similar ban, but it appears to have stalled; Austin's attempts at a ban have been unsuccessful, but according to the Austin-American Statesman, only one operator is permitted to bring horses downtown. She declines to do so because the long hours are unfair to her and the horses. Houston does have horse-drawn carriages, and there seems to be little conversation about banning them.

Cities like Chicago and Salt Lake City have led the charge in the United States with some of the most prominent successful bans. Other cities around the world with bans include Brussels and Guadalajara, which both switched to electric models. Bans that have been around for years, like Guadalajara's and Prague's, still aren't out of the woods — people are still pushing back on the decision, so it sounds like San Antonio still has much work cut out for it.

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