Commentary

I reviewed Aprill's discussion of HB 915 in her latest blog. This bill requires that foster children have guardian consent before being placed on psychotropic medication. This is a topic that had honestly never crossed my mind; what happens to foster kids who need medication? Foster children or not, I feel that doctors and parents now days are quick to put their children on medication, without acknowledging if there’s a deeper problem, or a different way to fix it without drugs. Especially, it seems with all of these medications there are always serious side effects, like suicide. How is that helping? But the doctors and drug companies are benefiting from administering these drugs. Also, Aprill brings up that it was reported that one child was receiving 11 different medications. That seems a bit over-the-top and unnecessary. As far as educating these children about the drugs they are taking, they might not fully understand the risks or even the reason why they have to take them in the first place, but I think it doesn’t hurt to try and help them understand. Overall I think this is an interesting topic that needs to be discussed.

Aborting Ignorance

A topic that is often talked about and almost always controversial is the topic of abortion. Some argue that having an abortion is inhumane and there are others who argue that it is a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy if she chooses to do so. Whether right or wrong, fact remains that it is legal for a woman to get an abortion, although it has to be done before a certain time in the fetal development.

Currently in Texas, abortions are banned after 28 weeks of gestation. HB 2364 however, proposed by Jodie Laubenberg, R-Parker, would ban all abortions after a mere 20 weeks. Her argument is that at this stage in the pregnancy, the fetus can actually feel pain. Problem is, there is no concrete evidence supporting this claim. In fact, evidence suggests that nerves aren’t developed until well into the third trimester, which would then lead to the unborn child being able to register pain.

Another valid argument against this bill is that serious fetal abnormalities cannot be detected before 20 weeks. When these rare medical conditions occur, the decision is left on what is best for the parents and more important, what they agree is best for the baby. HB 2364 would eliminate this decision altogether, because 20 weeks is usually too early to tell, which some would deem as unconstitutional.

In 2010, there were a total of 77,592 abortions performed in Texas. Out of that large number, only 420 of the abortions were performed after 20 weeks and the majority of them were due to serious medical conditions. This is with our current law of having the abortions done before 28 weeks which goes to show that most women carry out abortions in the earlier stages of their pregnancy without this bill even being passed. So, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?  

Critique

I actually wrote about the same topic as Aprill in my blog because I feel that this is an important issue. Sex education has proven to be beneficial overtime and SB 521, if approved, will be a major setback. I agree with Aprill on the fact that this seems to be a deliberate attack on organizations such as Planned Parenthood because some of the clinics provide abortions. She brings up a good point in that they should incorporate Sex Education into the health class curriculum. When I was in seventh grade, I lived in Hawaii and we took probably two weeks in our health class to go over sex education, not just watching one video. If that’s what they do here, then we definitely need to refine the sex education course. Overall, Aprill brings up some good points. It may need a little fine tuning to correct spelling and grammatical errors but other than that she makes a valid argument!

Link to Aprill's blog post 

Unplanned Parenthood

The requirement that students have to take a sex education course while in school has made some positive changes and we have seen a decrease in teen pregnancies in the last twenty years. While the numbers are still substantially high, we can keep making some improvements to these programs and keep progressing.  Senate Bill 521, filed by Republican state Senator Ken Paxton of McKinney, is not taking a step in the right direction. This bill prohibits school districts from using sex education materials that are provided by any organization that are affiliated with abortion providers, most notably targeting Planned Parenthood.

Currently, parents have the option to review the materials used in these courses and also have the option to withdraw their child from participating in sex education if they so choose to. With this proposed bill, parents would have to sign a consent form allowing their child to take part in this informative course which means more paperwork and also may lead to fewer students attending the course. Whether students have sex education or not, most likely a lot of teens are going to engage in this physical activity due to hormones or whatever they blame it on. This is why it is important to not only teach them about abstinence, but also educate them on different types of contraceptives and where to attain these materials. Also, we teach them about the dreaded sexually transmitted diseases and why we don’t want them. Sex education in school also provides the parent an alternative to teaching their child about sex because most parents and teens don’t want to have that incredibly awkward conversation.

Hopefully in the next twenty years we will see a continual decline in pregnancies amongst teens with the help of programs like sex education and Planned Parenthood. It is clear that these programs do not encourage sex, but give teens education and options on how to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Senate Bill 521 is not going to help in the gradual decline of teen pregnancies, only hurt it.

Medicaid Mousetrap

On the website empowertexans.com, Senator Craig Estes from Wichita Falls weighed in on the much debated subject of Medicaid. Empower Texans is a website that welcomes conservative bloggers and commentators from all over Texas, so the intended audience is most definitely right-winged traditionalists. Seeing that Estes is a Republican state senator, it seems he holds a great amount of credibility, especially to other Republicans. In addition to voicing his opinion, he also presents facts to back up his argument.

The argument being discussed is that of Medicaid expansion. Estes believes that this expansion will not benefit Texans. He presents three main arguments against it. The first one is that Texas simply can’t afford this increase. He claims that Medicaid is already growing rapidly and by 2023, even without expansion, Medicaid will consume thirty-seven percent of the state budget, outweighing other important funding such as higher education, public safety, and natural resources combined. His second dispute is how this Medicaid increase will affect Texas taxpayers. Estes brings up a good point in that the people receiving government funding are essentially receiving free money, but for those who are hardworking citizens, we pay out of our own paychecks to support these government programs. Lastly, the third fact he presents is the massive fraud associated with Medicaid. He states that in the last decade they have identified more than $770 million in suspected Medicaid fraud and that’s only what we know of.

All in all, I think Estes makes a logical argument. He brings up a good position in that we should not focus on expanding Medicaid, but focus on creating more jobs for Texans. It’s quite obvious that this program isn’t solving any problems but rather prolonging the issue of people not having jobs and not being able to support themselves or their families. While I have always had sympathy for people who are less fortunate, I also think that handing them free money isn’t the answer, especially when I see myself and my peers working hard to earn our money, just to see our paychecks dwindling to support those who don’t work. I’ve also seen way too many people using government funds insufficiently to support their drug or alcohol addictions. So in conclusion, I think there should be some changes made in how we handle this growing problem of how to offer help to those who need it.

Article: Medicaid Mousetrap

Author: Craig Estes

Source: Empower Texans

Posted: March 13, 2013

Legislature shifts gears on immigration

In a recent article in the Austin American Statesman written by the Editorial Board titled "Legislature shifts gears on immigration," they examine the recent changes in political views towards handling the immigration laws. As the author points out, in past years, members have been trying to pass bills cracking down on illegal immigration. Now it seems that they are taking a more open-minded approach to this key topic. Although both Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on securing our borders, they are also working on resolutions that help immigrants gain citizenship, rather than being opposed to the idea altogether. 

The author proposes that a more realistic approach to this issue is by encouraging people to enter the country legally for work or study in a variety of methods, instead of relying on an enforcement-only approach to immigration. Here in Texas, we share the majority of the border with Mexico, therefore this issue affects us greatly, arguably more than any other state. We already have millions of immigrants living and working here illegally, so we should take positive steps in helping them gain citizenship, the author suggests. 

I think that this is a logical way of thinking because we’re obviously already dealing with this problem, so we might as well make changes so that it is no longer a problem, but simply just a new way of living. If we make it a little easier for immigrants to gain citizenship, I think it will solve many problems we deal with, especially for businesses that are employing these illegal workers. It will help them get benefits and be covered by the company if a work-related accident happens. I have always felt that we should be welcoming to people who want to live here but I have to say this article didn’t persuade me more because I don’t feel like they used a lot of facts to back their opinion up.

Article: Legislature shifts gears on immigration

Author: Editorial Board

Source: Austin American Statesman

Posted: Feb. 15, 2013

While looking on the Austin Chronicle's website, I found an article posted Feb. 2 titled Bill of the Week: Building a Better Texas. This article discusses the unfair treatment of our construction workers and the bills that will help secure their rights. Texas' construction industry is responsible for 10% of all U.S. construction output. With that being said, we have the highest rate of workers killed due to work related accidents. There is also a lot of shady business going on within some of these companies, like not having workers on payroll which means they don't have to pay taxes on them and it also leaves the worker uncovered by workers comp if they do happen to sustain an injury on site. Now they are trying to propose different bills to ensure the safety of the workers, for instance,  House Bill 475, by Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, would require construction employers to provide workers compensation coverage.