TxPEP develops web app to explore the impact of restrictive reproductive health legislation in Texas

April 8, 2013 – In 2011, Texas enacted some of the most restrictive health legislation in the country, including slashing the family planning budget by two-thirds. Researchers at Ibis, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham formed the Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP) to evaluate these restrictions and analyze the impact they have on women and providers in the state. As part of this work, TxPEP has developed a web app which allows individuals to look up the provision of family planning services in each county, Senate district, House district, and public health region in Texas, as well as for the state as a whole, and to compare areas to see which were hardest hit by the budget cuts. 

With the data grouped geographically, the app gives information to Texans to understand the impact of family planning cuts on their local communities, and will ultimately inform legislators, advocates, and activists on the ground about the realities of reproductive health access in the state.