On Friday’s edition of Houston Matters: Teen pregnancy and birth rates are seeing a downward trend nationwide. However, in Texas, the data show that this downward trend has slowed dramatically over a four-year period. This happens to correlate strongly with the state’s broad defunding of family planning services, including Planned Parenthood. Those cuts began in earnest in 2011 under then-Gov. Rick Perry. A new study examines the connection, and we learn more from researcher Analisa Packham from Miami University (Ohio).
Also this hour: Our panel of non-experts discusses The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of this week’s news — from the debate over removing Confederate statues from city property, to the end of the special session, to the sale of a particularly expensive estate near Austin. Plus Michael Hagerty takes us on a tour of Islamic art on display at City Hall.
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