Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) demanded answers from the University of Texas on Wednesday over a $50,000 grant it provided to Planned Parenthood to research a sex education program, a letter first shared with The Daily Wire shows.
Roy’s letter was related to a sub-award of $49,458 given to Planned Parenthood of Illinois by the University of Texas Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work. The university provided the grant out of a $2 million award from the Department of Health and Human Services it was granted for the purpose of evaluating THRIVE, a sexual education and health organization.
“Planned Parenthood of Illinois is a radical entity and the University of Texas’ association with it violates the conscience of millions of Texans,” Roy wrote to Dean of the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, Allan Cole.
The University of Texas has so far received $526,145 of the promised money from the federal government and has partnered with teams in Illinois, Kansas, and Colorado to evaluate THRIVE.
THRIVE says that it provides “inclusive, trauma-informed sex education to youth” and that its curriculum is “designed to meet the specific needs and concerns of teens and young adults in foster care.”
Roy said that the university’s partnership with Planned Parenthood of Illinois was unacceptable, pointing to the organization’s boasts of providing “gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) to transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive folks” as young as 16 years old.
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“Considering that the University of Texas is second in the nation in federal research expenditures among public higher education systems, it is essential that we understand why federal grant recipients are entering into partnerships with abortion and so-called ‘gender-affirming care’— providing organizations and under what circumstances,” Roy wrote.
Roy asked that Cole provide documentation on the award and the “rationale” for why Planned Parenthood was chosen. He also asked if the University of Texas had entered into any other funding agreements with any abortion providers.
The Republican lawmaker also asked whether the sub-award was in accordance with Texas law, which stipulates that public money cannot go toward transgender procedures on children.
