Texas Briefing
Texas Briefing
Podcast Description
“Texas Briefing” is a podcast from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy that brings expert insight to the policy challenges shaping life in the Lone Star State. Through topical miniseries, institute scholars and their guests untangle issues in health, the economy, climate resilience, and more to understand how policy matters are impacting communities from the Panhandle to the Gulf Coast.
Subscribe and listen to “Texas Briefing” wherever you listen to podcasts.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on critical topics such as health, the economy, and climate resilience, with specific episodes addressing reproductive health themes like the impact of Texas' abortion ban on OB-GYNs and teenage access to contraception.
“Texas Briefing” brings expert insight to the policy challenges shaping life in the Lone Star State. Through topical miniseries, scholars from Rice University’s Baker Institute and their guests untangle issues in health, the economy, climate resilience, and more to understand how policy matters are impacting communities from the Panhandle to the Gulf Coast.
Subscribe and listen to “Texas Briefing” wherever you listen to podcasts.
More than half of Texas women can’t access their preferred birth control method — meaning they can’t use the method that works best for them. Gracia Sierra, a nonresident scholar at the Baker Institute and data scientist at Resound Research for Reproductive Health, sits down with senior health policy fellow Elena Marks to discuss how insurance status shapes access to contraception and why uninsured and publicly insured people are most likely to face barriers.
Sierra also lays out policy solutions to the gap, from expanding Medicaid to strengthening existing programs for low-income Texans, from her latest co-authored report for the Baker Institute.
Featured guests:
- Gracia Sierra, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/gracia-sierra
Mentioned in this episode:
- Gracia Sierra et al., “Barriers to Preferred Contraceptive Use in Texas,” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, November 4, 2025.
This conversation was recorded on Oct. 17, 2025.
You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.
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