AUSTIN — As Texas prepares to take over a key health program for low-income women, its new rules specify the program will be killed if a court requires Planned Parenthood to be among service providers.

The state is assuming full responsibility for the Women's Health Program — doing without federal funds, which had paid 90 percent of the program — so it can exclude clinics that are affiliates of abortion providers.

The federal government says its rules don't allow for the exclusion, which notably affects Planned Parenthood, a main provider in the program that offers contraceptives and health screenings to more than 100,000 women.

After Planned Parenthood sued, state officials said the program would disappear if the group prevailed, and the new rules make that clear.

"If the courts make us do something that's not consistent with state law, then it says we'll stop the program," said Dr. Kyle Janek, Health and Human Services executive commissioner. "If the courts say you have to include Planned Parenthood, then yes, it goes away."

The state is preparing to take over the program starting Nov. 1 and is laying out its rules in advance.

Asked if he could guarantee there would be provider for every woman who wants one through the program on Nov. 1, Janek said, "I think just the best answer I can give you is, I don't guarantee anything."

Janek noted that the rules had just been finalized and said part of his job is to build the most "robust" network possible.

"We are very confident we are going to get the number of providers that it takes to take care of them," he said.

In the rules outlined Thursday, changes were made to address objections from doctors and others who said state regulations as initially proposed would intrude on the physician-patient relationship by forbidding any discussion of abortion.

Janek said the new rules will allow discussion of abortion as long as the doctor doesn't direct a course of action to women in the program.

They also will allow doctors who don't provide abortions to take part in the program even if they are in a group practice with a doctor who provides them, he said.

Dr. Janet Realini, president of San Antonio-based Healthy Futures of Texas, said that on an initial reading, it appeared changes in the rules may increase the chance that doctors might participate.

"However, the rules still exclude the providers that have historically provided a large proportion of the care. This means it will still be difficult to recruit enough providers to meet the need," she said.

Dr. Michael Speer, president of the Texas Medical Association, said he was encouraged by the change in what is considered promotion of abortion, although he still needed to comb through the rules carefully.

Speer voiced concern about the prospect of the program ending if Planned Parenthood wins its effort to be included, saying such action likely would spur court action as well, but that in the meantime, women would be left without care.

"As a physician, that upsets me greatly," said Speer, a neonatologist at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. "It's the women who are being hurt."

Planned Parenthood representatives expressed outrage at the "poison pill" clause.

Jeffrey Hons, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Trust of South Texas, said: "At a time when Texans need to solve real problems, Texas is chasing their favorite boogeywoman, Planned Parenthood, and playing politics with women's health. The governor and his friends would rather end preventive women's health care than let Planned Parenthood provide it. This is least-intelligent, most mean-spirited thing I've seen."

Gov. Rick Perry and others who back the ban on Planned Parenthood have said it's important to ensure government funds don't prop up organizations that provide abortions, which they oppose.

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