Use of Media in Promoting Policy Change Part 2
The Defunding Abortion Provider Policy in Texas
As a nurse, I am happy with the various steps we have made as to the people of Texas when it comes to enhancing our healthcare services and system. The recent implementation of Defunding abortion providers in Texas is a clear indication of how we are supporting our healthcare. Although in united states, abortion is legalized in many states, there is still some part of us who object this move. Preventing the practice of abortion in the country is a very difficult step considering that it is legalized. The previous year, the state of Texas implemented the defunding abortion providers. This measure, referred to as Senate Bill 22, will prevent the state as well as the local governments from partnering with the agencies that provide abortion services (Davidson, 2019). This is applicable even if the agencies have a contract in line with services not associated with the procedure.
The Senate Bill 22 policy framework shows the direction of the policy towards where it is aimed. Senate Bill 22, as stated earlier, prohibits any government agency from using taxpayer’s money in collaboration with the abortion service providers as well as any affiliation with the abortion service provider. The bill is meant to act on preventing taxpayers’ money at both levels of administration, the state, and local government from using the finances to cater for abortion facilities and its affiliates. According to the bill, taxpayers’ resource transactions are understood to be selling, purchasing, donation of funds, goods, and services, as well as property or any form of money transaction between government entity with a private entity (Sundaram, 2016).
As healthcare professionals, we support this policy initiative. This is based on the grassroots analysis of the essay. As nurses and other healthcare professionals face various challenges when it comes to providing healthcare services to the public. One of the challenging services is abortion services. This is because you tend to consider that you are taking away a life. Statistically, abortion contributes to the end of the lives of approximately 60,000 people in Texas (Woodruff,2019). This is according to senator Donna Campbell. This is evidence that approves as to why such agencies should be prohibited from accessing taxpayers. The taxpayer’s money cannot be used to fund such immoral acts (Korte, 2019). Although abortion is legalizing in the United States and many states have legalized these steps, using taxpayer money to fund such a process is not a good thing.
The move made by the senate in 2019 is a clear step of the positive steps we are making in the healthcare sector. This will encourage morality in society. Religion factor is one of the issues we face. Cultural competency is a very important factor in healthcare. As a nurse, we tend to respect the religious and cultural values of the patients. Likewise, as healthcare professionals, we also have our religious and cultural beliefs that we stand with. These beliefs are also supposed to be respected. Abortion is one of the challenging situations nurses face when working under abortion service provider agencies. Certain religious beliefs prohibit the practice of abortions (Sharifi, Adib-Hajbaghery & Najafi, 2019). As nurses belonging to different religious practices and cultures, upholding such a rule is quite difficult. As a result, we are faced with a dilemma situation to decide on which side to protect. Is it our profession or our cultural values? With such a policy, we are indeed helping in dealing with this problem from an administrative direction. We hope to see several such progress.