Texas legislators — who have already targeted women’s reproductive freedom by defunding Planned Parenthood clinics, making deep cuts to family planning services, and enacting hurdles to dissuade women from seeking abortions — aren’t satisfied with their state’s current threats to women’s constitutional right to choose. Now that they have already either proposed or enacted harsh abortion restrictions, GOP officials are turning their attention to the punishments they want to levy against the women and doctors who don’t comply.

Starting on December 31, Texas’ Health Department will impose even more red tape between women and their doctors when it begins requiring doctors to submit “abortion reports” — forms to document the basic details about the woman who had the procedure, as well as to verify that the doctor followed every step of the state’s law. And, as the Dallas Observer reports, the state will crack down on the doctors who don’t follow the new reporting requirements:

The doctor has to affirm in writing that the patient has been shown a sonogram of the fetus, listened to a heartbeat (if one is present), and shown the Woman’s Right to Know booklet, which still contains thoroughly debunked information linking abortion to breast cancer. There are also questions about the “method of pregnancy verification” and how the “fetal tissue and remains” were disposed of. [...]

Texas law already prohibits third-trimester abortions, except in the case of fetal abnormality or risk to the woman’s life. It already requires forcing a woman to look at a sonogram, listen to a heartbeat and read a medically inaccurate, pink-tinted little pamphlet. So it’s not clear why the state is suddenly demanding extra proof that the doctor has done these things, plus making them outline the “medical indications” that led him or her to perform an abortion.

But the consequences are severe: Doctors who don’t comply with the new rules can be subject to “denial, suspension, probation, or revocation” of their medical license.

But it’s not just doctors who may be at risk of prosecution under Texas’ harsh laws. As the state considers a 20-week abortion ban modeled on Arizona’s current law, lawmakers will also decide on a way to punish the women who seek abortions at 21 or 22 weeks of pregnancy. According the Guttmacher Institute, the women who seek abortion services past 20 weeks of pregnancy are likely be victims of domestic violence. But as RH Reality Check reports, Gov. Rick Perry’s (R-TX) office confirmed that the details of those women’s punishment would be “worked out by the legislature.”

Perry recently reiterated that his “goal” is to completely outlaw all access to abortion services — and in addition to denying reproductive care to women who need it, that initiative is also about punishing the ones who seek it.

At a press conference on Tuesday organized by the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) reaffirmed that his ultimate legislative objective is to restrict all women’s access to abortion services.

Members of Texas Right to Life are currently pushing their state’s legislators to pass a “fetal pain” bill that would ban abortions after just 20 weeks — despite the fact that there’s no scientific evidence that fetuses can actually feel pain at that point. As the Huffington Post reports, Perry not only enthusiastically endorsed such a measure, but also confirmed his “goal” to continue passing restrictive legislation to limit women’s Constitutional right to choose:

To be clear, my goal, and the goal of many of those joining me here today, is to make abortion, at any stage, a thing of the past. While Roe v. Wade prevents us from taking that step, it does allow states to do some things to protect life if they can show there is a compelling state interest. I don’t think there is any issue that better fits the definition of ‘compelling state interest’ than preventing the suffering of our state’s unborn. [...]

Again, the ideal world is a world without abortion. Until then, however, we will continue to pass laws to ensure abortions are as rare as possible under existing law.

Perry does not support legal abortion access for women who have become impregnated from rape or incest, a far-right position that cost several anti-choice candidates their seats in last month’s election.

The governor has already taken significant steps toward accomplishing his goal in Texas. He has signed a bill requiring women seeking abortions to undergo a mandatory ultrasound — the same type of legislation that the Oklahoma Supreme Court recently ruled unconstitutional because it goes too far to restrict women’s right to legal abortion under Roe v. Wade — and is working hard to defund the Planned Parenthood clinics that provide reproductive services to low-income women across the state.

Even though Texas has the highest uninsurance rates in the nation — nearly a quarter of the state’s population lacks health insurance — Gov. Rick Perry (R) has refused to expand the Medicaid program, prioritizing his continued opposition to Obamacare over the opportunity to extend health coverage to an estimated 2 million low-income Texans.

But some faith leaders want Gov. Perry to know they stand in sharp opposition to his decision. Mike Rosen, a spokesperson for the Dallas Area Interfaith group, told the Dallas Morning News that accepting the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare makes sense “for moral, ethical and financial reasons.” That’s why Rosen’s group brought a diverse group of church and community leaders together for a rally and religious service on Sunday to emphasize what’s at stake in the battle over Medicaid expansion.

More than 300 people crowded into a Dallas-area church to share firsthand stories about working with the uninsured members of their communities, and to explain why church leaders are invested in extending Medicaid coverage to those people:

For more than two decades, Dallas Area Interfaith members have monitored overcrowded conditions at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas’ lone public hospital.

“Churches care about the health of the community, whether it’s related to people not being able to afford insurance coverage or not getting access to the care they need,” said Mary Lou Hoffman, spokeswoman for the organization.

Repeatedly, speakers described scenarios in which uninsured Texans were forced to seek basic medical care in local emergency rooms, particularly at overcrowded Parkland.

“Without insurance coverage, families are delaying medical checkups, which can save their lives,” said Lisa Lopez, a Dallas woman whose husband was treated for a brain tumor discovered during a Parkland checkup.

Yesterday’s event also kicked off a state-wide petition drive to pressure Perry to reconsider his stance on Medicaid. Dallas Area Interfaith plans to deliver their signatures when the new legislative session begins in January.

Earlier this year, a group of over 100 national, state, and local faith leaders also urged Republican governors to accept Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, explaining that “depriving struggling families of healthcare is wholly incompatible with the teachings of our faiths and the ideals of our nation.” Nevertheless, Rick Perry isn’t the only intransigent lawmaker who continues to resist implementing the health reform law at any cost. GOP governors in states like Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Arizona have also resisted expanding the eligibility levels for their Medicaid programs.

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) convened a press conference today to announce the creation of a fully state-funded Women’s Health Program for Medicaid recipients, but his political theater only served to obscure the truth about women’s health services in Texas.

Earlier this year, Texas announced its intention to fund the Medicaid providers in its Women’s Health Program solely through the state as a method of defunding local Planned Parenthood affiliates. Since states are not allowed to withhold federal Medicaid funds from qualified providers like Planned Parenthood, Texas legislators needed to find a workaround to continue to exclude the national health organization — which they chose to target as an “abortion affiliate,” even though abortion services represent just three percent of its total medical care — from the Women Health’s Program.

But even though Perry claimed his state is “ready” to begin fully funding the Women’s Health Program today — and even rolled out a new logo for the program — the Associated Press confirmed that they will not actually do so until Medicaid providers stop receiving federal funding. Since federal funding is guaranteed through the end of this year, Texas’ Planned Parenthood affiliates will continue to receive their full Medicaid funds until December 31. In a press release, Planned Parenthood officials celebrated the fact that their organization will be able to keep its doors open to the thousands of low-income women it serves:

Despite confusing statements from state officials, today’s announcement means that Planned Parenthood can continue to be a part of the Women’s Health Program as long as the “Affiliate Ban Rule” remains blocked by court order. Planned Parenthood and WHP patients expressed relief upon the announcement that tens of thousands of Texas women will not yet experience a disruption in WHP services, including breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, and testing for sexually transmitted infections.

“Today’s announcement is an important victory for every woman who relies on the Women’s Health Program for basic, preventive health care,” said Ken S. Lambrecht, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas. “Our doors remain open today and always to every Texas woman in need of affordable, high quality health care.”

Planned Parenthood filed a state lawsuit last week that blocks Texas from shutting down the Women’s Health Program altogether and preserves the organization’s federal funding for now. But thanks to the complicated legal battle that the national health organization is currently embroiled in, the future of the funding for its Texas affiliates remains unclear. Planned Parenthood officials say that Texas state law clearly stipulates that the Women’s Health Program needs to be funded federally — not on a state level, as Perry and his HHS Department are pushing for — so Texas lawmakers’ politically-motivated attacks on women’s health clinics will fall flat in court. Planned Parenthood’s next court date is set for November 8.

Ultimately, Perry is only serving to confuse the low-income women in Texas about the health care providers they can access through their Medicaid plans. Planned Parenthood is currently Texas’ largest Medicaid provider, serving tens of thousands of women across the state who often have no other means to access health insurance, and women deserve to know they can continue receiving critical health services at Planned Parenthood clinics in 2012.