The Texas legislature is quite literally holding poor women hostage in order to defund Planned Parenthood.  The have now introduced a bill that will shut down the entirety of the state’s low income women’s health care and family planning program if Planned Parenthood or any other group that provides abortions sues and wins a ruling saying they should be a part of it.

The Houston Chronicle reports:

Texas lawmakers inserted a poison bill into a women’s health program Tuesday in a move designed to ensure that groups like Planned Parenthood do not receive state funding.

Legislation that would renew a program to help poor women now has a provision that would shut it down immediately if a group that provides abortions files and wins a lawsuit to participate in the program. The Senate Health and Human Services approved the measure 5-1.

Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, said the move was necessary to make sure that no organization that provides abortions will receive any state money to provide any kind of health service.

“The legislature has clearly tried to cut off funding for these entities, only to have it restored by lawsuit,” Deuell said. “We do not want this to happen again … if abortion providers are able to sue and win — they have to win the suit — the program will cease to operate.”

Even better, almost all of the funding for the program that would be eliminated comes from the federal government, not the state.  But they would rather toss it all out, and leave poor women without any health care, and especially birth control, if not doing so means Planned Parenthood might get a dollar of it.

It’s the ultimate in gag rules.