AUSTIN (January 7, 2013)--Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Kyle Janek said Monday his agency can meet the demand of providing family planning services to poor women without Planned Parenthood’s clinics.

On Jan. 1 the state cut off funding to Planned Parenthood clinics that provided checkups and birth control to 48,000 women a year after
Republican leaders cut off all funding to groups that support abortion rights.

In response the federal government cut off funding to the state, saying it was illegal to deny a woman the right to choose her doctor.

Janek said Monday that women who went to Planned Parenthood should have no problem finding a new doctor.

Critics of the policy have contended a doctor shortage would make it difficult for poor women to find treatment from non-Planned Parenthood facilities.