Texas. Dept. of Health. Family Planning Division.

The Family Planning Division of the Texas Department of Health encompassed several committees, projects, and workgroups whose goals were to administer and facilitate statewide delivery of preventive, comprehensive health care services to low-income women and men in Texas in order to reduce unintended pregnancies, improve health status, and positively affect future pregnancy outcomes.

The Family Planning Advisory Committee was first established in 1990 as an interagency council to advise the Texas Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Texas Department of Health (TDH) in the administration of both agencies' family planning programs. The Family Planning Interagency Advisory Council existed concurrently with this committee. House Bill 1510 (73rd Texas Legislature, Regular Session) transferred the DHS family planning program to TDH on September 1, 1993.

The Family Planning Advisory Committee advised the Texas Board of Health and the Family Planning division staff of the Texas Department of Health. Its charge was to interpret family planning rules under Titles V, X, XIX, and XX of the Social Security Act; as well as to provide guidance on issues related to the administration of family planning services statewide. The 15-member committee reflected the diversity of the state's citizens and consumers with regard to ethnicity, race, age, gender, residence, and economic status. Composition of the committee included: five family planning consumers, with at least one male; two primary care physicians licensed by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners and involved in the delivery of family planning services, including one physician certified by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or its equivalent and one physician specializing in the field of adolescent medicine; one women's health care nurse practitioner with family planning experience, licensed by the Board of Nurse Examiners for the state of Texas; four family planning provider agency administrators; one education representative; one Regional Coordinating Committee chairperson; and one representative of Client Self-Support Services (Texas Department of Human Services). Meetings were usually held quarterly in March, June, September, and December. The committee had two subcommittees: the Informational and Educational Subcommittee and the Subcommittee of Regional Coordinating Committee Chairpersons (which existed as a separate committee until 2001).

The Family Planning Advisory Committee was abolished in 2003 after the repeal of Texas Administrative Code, Section 56.4. Subsequently, TAC § 56.16, regarding establishment of Title X Informational and Educational Committees, was created to address the requirement of Title X funding for establishment of such committees for the review and approval of materials produced by and used in family planning projects.

House Bill 2292 (78th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2003) merged twelve state health and human services agencies into five, officially abolishing the Texas Department of Health (effective September 1, 2004) and creating the new Texas Department of State Health Services. As of 2012, state family planning services are administered by that agency's Family Planning program within the Community Health Services Section, Family and Community Health Division.

(Sources include: Texas Department of State Health Services, State Health Services Council agenda item, January 30-31, 2008 ; Texas Department of State Health Services, Community Health Services Section overview ; both accessed April 2012.)

From the guide to the Department of Health Family Planning Division meeting files, 1990-2002, (Texas State Archives)