3:45 PM, JUL 11, 2013 • BY JOHN MCCORMACK
Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards held a small rally outside the U.S. Capitol Thursday joined by Minnesota senator Al Franken, Connecticut congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, and a crowd of 200 Planned Parenthood activists. Richards warned that new state and federal bills--including measures establishing late-term abortion limits--pose threats to women's rights.
The new legislation is being debated and voted on in the wake of the trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted of murder in May for snipping the necks of babies after they were born. Following the rally, THE WEEKLY STANDARD asked Richards to explain the difference between the Gosnell killings and late-term abortions.
"I mean he was a criminal. And he's now going to jail," Richards replied. "It is very rare for a woman to need to terminate a pregnancy after 20 weeks. And quite often it's stories like ones we heard today where" the fetus is diagnosed with a dire medical condition.
But asked about late-term abortion when there isn't a medical problem (Texas's proposed abortion limit has exceptions for the physical health of the mother and severe "fetal abnormalities"), Richards refused to answer. Nor did she reply when asked if she supports any legal limits on abortion.
Here's the transcript of the exchange:
THE WEEKLY STANDARD: [Supporters of late-term abortion bans] say there's not much of a difference between what Kermit Gosnell did outside the womb to a baby at 23 weeks and a legal late-term abortion [performed] at 23 weeks on that same baby. What is the difference between those two?
CECILE RICHARDS: I mean he was a criminal. And he's now going to jail. As I think you heard Senator Franken say and many women who have written about their own personal stories, it is very rare for a woman to need to terminate a pregnancy after 20 weeks. And quite often it's stories like one we heard today where there is the decision of the doctor that this is the best way, the best for a woman. And the problem is when you have politicians begin to play doctor and make decisions about women's medical care. They aren't in that woman's situation.
TWS: But there has been research out of, I think, University of California-San Francisco about non-medical late-term abortions. These things do happen, even if they're a small number. I'm talking about that specific area. I mean if there were broader exceptions, would you--
AIDE TO CECILE RICHARDS: I know you're in a rush, so I can follow up to get you some more information.
TWS: Are there any legal limits you do support on abortion, Ms. Richards?
Though there was plenty of time for Richards to answer the questions as she walked toward a U.S. Senate office building, she remained silent after her aide tried to cut off questioning.
The president of Planned Parenthood isn't the only prominent pro-choice advocate unable to explain why it should be legal to abort a healthy baby 23 weeks into pregnancy but illegal to kill that same baby after birth. In June, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi was unable to answer the question when asked multiple times. "As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this," she said.
In the wake of the Gosnell trial, writers from across the political spectrum have argued that there isn't a significant difference between late-term abortion and the Gosnell murders. "The real reason [Pelosi] avoided the question is because there is no good answer," wrote Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker.
"[T]here's almost no difference between killing a baby accidentally born alive in a late-term abortion, as Gosnell stands accused of, and killing the same baby in the womb, as more skilled doctors can do," according to Bloomberg columnist Margaret Carlson.
"What we need to learn from the Gosnell case is that late-term abortion is infanticide," wrote Daily Beast columnist Kirsten Powers. "Legal infanticide."
Nearly two months since the conviction of Gosnell, the most prominent pro-choice advocates remain unable to explain the difference between infanticide and late-term abortion.
|
When the Rev. Thomas Vander Woude learned about a young couple planning to abort their unborn baby that had been diagnosed with Down syndrome, the priest reached out and offered a deal: Deliver the child and he would help find an appropriate adoptive family.
But he had to act fast.
The woman, who has not been identified for her privacy and her protection, was just shy of six months pregnant and lives in a state that prohibits abortions past 24 weeks — which meant he had a short time to find a family willing to make a lifelong commitment.
So Father Vander Woude, the lead pastor at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville, Va., approached a volunteer who helped manage the church’s social media pages, and she posted an urgent plea on Facebook early Monday morning.
“There is a couple in another state who have contacted an adoption agency looking for a family to adopt their Down Syndrome unborn baby. If a couple has not been found by today they plan to abort the baby. If you are interested in adopting this baby please contact Fr. VW IMMEDIATELY,” the post read. “We are asking all to pray for this baby and the wisdom that this couple realize the importance of human life and do not abort this beautiful gift from God.”
The post asked people to call the church’s office after 9:30 a.m. Monday or to email Father Vander Woude.
No one expected the response they received.
“When we got in and opened up around 9:30, it was nearly nonstop. All day long, we were receiving phone calls from people who wanted to adopt the baby,” church staff member Martha Drennan said. “Father Vander Woude has gotten over 900 emails in regard to the baby.”
The offers were narrowed to three families, which the unborn child’s parents are reviewing with the help of an adoption agency.
Ms. Drennan said the church received phone calls from all over the United States and around the world, including from England, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands.
“I think it is a wonderful use of social media, that word can so quickly get all over the country and even to foreign countries and that the people who see the value of life are stepping up and saying, ‘I will take that baby and raise that baby as mine,’” Ms. Drennan said. “It was a beautiful witness all day long that so many people wanted this child and believed in the dignity of that child — Down syndrome or not.”
The president and founder of the International Down Syndrome Coalition, Diane Grover, stressed the importance of informing couples who are considering abortion for babies with Down syndrome that adoption is a viable option, pointing to the fast and overwhelming response her organization received about this one unborn child as an amazing example.
“When [couples are] in that position, a lot of people wonder if their child [with Down syndrome] would actually get adopted,” Ms. Grover said. “There’s a lot of people waiting, and we are happy to always help.”
David Dufresne, a seminary student who plans to become a priest next year, volunteered to help the overwhelmed church staff take calls.
“I was taking calls for about three hours straight, just talking to people who are willing to adopt this little baby they never knew about until that morning,” Mr. Dufresne said. “I mean, all day long, just receiving phone calls from people who were so generous and within a couple minutes made a life-changing decision. I was really inspired by the goodness of people and what they would do to save a life.”
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/9/hundreds-call-to-adopt-down-syndrome-baby-save-it-/#ixzz2YeKyPmN8
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
|
BY CHERYL SULLENGER
Austin, TX, July 9, 2013 (OperationRescue.org) — Thousands of pro-life supporters jammed together in front of the Texas Capitol Building on yesterday's hot, muggy evening to hear notable speakers such as Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Attorney General Mike Abbott, and Fox News personality former Gov. Mick Huckabee speak in support of a Texas abortion law that was thwarted by an angry pro-abortion mob two weeks ago.
The rally had a street-fair quality, with a sea of blue-shirted pro-lifers cheering and chanting, ”Pass the bill,” while abortion supporters sporting orange clothing occasionally recited mantras such as, “Separate Church and State.” The pro-abortion chants were generally ignored and drowned out by the enthusiastic throng, which took every opportunity to punctuate the speakers’ messages with hoots and cheers.
There was a palpable sense of history in the making.
As the pro-life rally progressed, abortion supporters congregated on the street in front of the Capitol, chanting and cheering at honking cars as they whizzed by, all under the watchful eyes of at least 15 motorcycle officers who lined a section of the street nearby.
Security was high and there were no noticeable incidents, at least as far as this writer could see.
It is sometimes difficult to measure a crowd of that size, but estimates were between 3,000 to 5,000 pro-life supporters rallied outside the Capitol, with hundreds more inside wandering the halls of the Capitol. Others jammed into several over-flow rooms to watch closed-circuit broadcasts of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee as they patiently endured a marathon of speakers who had signed up to speak both for and against SB1, the Senate companion bill to the House version known as HB2.
These bills would ban abortions after 20 weeks gestation and provide additional regulations, such as the requirement that abortionists must have local hospital privileges. If successful, it would close all but 5 out of 42 abortion clinics in Texas.
The Senate hearing was expected to last all night.
“We’ll stay here the rest of the week, if necessary, to hear witnesses,” said Republican Sen. Jane Nelson.
The testimony will continue round the clock until the last witness is heard. Literally thousands more registered their support or opposition to the bill by submitting a form in person outside the hearing room.
Sen. Nelson indicated that there would be no vote immediately following the hearing, signaling that the Senate may be content to move forward at a slower pace than the House, which heard eight hours of testimony last week and has scheduled a vote in the full House on Tuesday.
This is the second special legislative session called by Gov. Rick Perry to ensure passage of the pro-life law. Texas has a part -time legislature that meets only once every two years. Adding to the urgency of passing the abortion restrictions this year were recent allegations of three former abortion clinic employees that Houston abortionist Douglas Karpen routinely kills late-term babies born alive during abortions using practices similar to those of convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell. Operation Rescue released photographic evidence depicting two late-term babies that seems to support the women’s claims.
Operation Rescue will be Tweeting live from the Capitol Tuesday.
|
Carol Platt Liebau | Jul 05, 2013
This is the ad deemed "too controversial" to be run by MSM outlets like USA Today, the LA Times, and the Chicago Tribune. It seems that it is OK to write about abortion in the abstract, but completely unnaccetable to show who is being aborted, out of the womb.
A sad commentary.
|
Fred Barnes
July 2, 2013 7:55 PM
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) today agreed to be the lead sponsor of a Senate bill to ban abortion after an unborn child is 20 weeks old. A similar measure passed the House last month and a state version is now being debated in the Texas legislature, where it is likely to be approved.
With Rubio’s presence, the bill is certain to gain enormous media attention and thus more national visibility for the issue of limiting late term abortions. Right-to-life groups have urged Rubio to take the lead on the issue, believing he would be the strongest possible advocate in the Senate. Several sources confirmed he’d agreed.
The bill faces an uphill fight in the Democrat-controlled Senate and a veto threat by President Obama. But win or lose, Republicans and the leaders of the pro-life movement regard the 20-week ban as an especially favorable issue for their cause – and one that might strengthen GOP candidates in the 2014 midterm election.
This is reflected in poll numbers. A Gallup survey in January found that 64 percent of Americans think an abortion in the second three months of pregnancy should be illegal. As for the last three months, 80 percent feel an abortion that late should be banned. A Texas Tribune poll found even more sweeping opposition among Texans to late term abortions.
Rubio’s decision to play a major role in the abortion debate is bound to stir political speculation. He is viewed as a likely candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
But he’s recently prompted serious criticism by Republicans over his support for the immigration reform bill that passed the Senate last week. His front-and-center role on a key anti-abortion measure is likely to ease concerns about him among GOP voters.
The bill cleared House, 228-196. Six Democrats joined 222 Republicans in voting for it. Six Republicans sided with 190 Democrats in voting no.
Rubio is expected to announce his sponsorship of the bill after the July 4 congressional recess.
In Texas, the late term issue has boosted Governor Rick Perry, who is considering whether to seek another term next year or possibly run for president in 2016. Democrats accused him of “demonizing” women when he questioned the filibuster again a 20-week ban last week by state Democratic senator Wendy Davis. In truth, his statement was quite respectful. Polls now show him in a strong position for reelection against Davis or any other Democratic candidate.
The idea behind the anti-abortion bill is to ban abortion once the unborn child is viable – that is, able to survive – outside the womb. There is disagreement over when this occurs during a period of 20 to 24 weeks after fertilization.
At the very least, Republicans will benefit from having the Rubio-backed legislation take center stage, overshadowing controversial statements by Republican candidates in 2012 about rape and abortion. The bill provides an exception to the late term ban in the case of rape or incest and when a physical health condition puts the life of the mother at risk.
|
BY JOHN JALSEVAC
ALBUQUERQUE, NM, June 30, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An abortion worker at a notorious late-term abortion facility in New Mexico tells a 27-week-pregnant mom to “just sit on the toilet” in her hotel room, and not to look down, if she should feel the urge to pass the body of her baby during the multi-day abortion procedure in the latest undercover sting video released by the pro-life group Live Action.
“If we can't catch it [delivery of the dead baby – the final stage of the abortion procedure] early enough, which has happened...then you'll want to unlock the door to the hotel room, get your cell phone, and just sit on the toilet,” the unnamed counselor at Southwestern Women's Options in Albuquerque, New Mexico tells an undercover investigator with Live Action. “You don't have to look at anything...you can stay on the phone with us until the doctor and nurse get there.” This baby was born at 27 weeks.
When the woman asks what the abortion clinic will do with the body of her baby, the counselor responds, “We wrap it up, and we bring it back to the clinic.” The counselor repeatedly urges the woman not to look into the toilet. “Don't look down. Don't look,” she says.
At 27 weeks a baby is fully formed. Most babies born at this age in the United States will survive if they receive medical attention.
Abortionist Dr. Carmen Landau echoes the counselor's advice, telling the Live Action investigator to "sit on the toilet"and "unlock the hotel room."
"Just sit there," Landau says, "and you would not move until we come and get you."
The video is the sixth video in Live Action’s latest undercover investigation series, Inhuman: Undercover in America's Abortion Industry. The videos depict employees at some of the nation’s most notorious late-term abortion facilities describing in graphic detail how late-term abortions are performed.
Previous videos have shown abortion workers at various clinics admitting that they would not work to save babies who are born alive during the abortion process, as has happened in the past. The federal Born Alive Infant Protection Act was passed to ensure that such babies receive medical attention after stories emerged of babies routinely being born alive and then left to die by abortionists.
In one video abortion Leroy Carhart, one of four late-term abortionists portrayed in a documentary that premiered at the Sundance Festival recently, told the Live Action investigator that after he killed her baby it would soften “like meat in a crock pot” before she expelled the baby’s body three days later.
In the lastest video, the abortion workers describe how they will inject the baby's heart with digoxin to ensure "fetal demise," and how the mother will eventually pass a "mass," i.e., her fully formed baby's body.
Live Action President Lila Rose condemned Southwestern Women's Options and what she calls the "abortion ethos."
"If these abortionists truly cared about women's health, they would keep their patients at the facility throughout the horrific multiday lateterm abortion,” she said. “But that would be too expensive for an industry obsessed with making money at the expense of human life, so women are left in a hotel room to endure a grueling, traumatic ordeal alone."
Southwestern Women's Options was a subject of another previous Live Action video in which Dr. Landau likened the lethal injection that kills the fetus to "a flu shot, really."
The new video also presents an abortion counselor offering misleading information on whether the 27-week preborn child will feel the lethal abortion injection. "[If the baby]'s bottom down, it'll insert through the baby's bottom, [and] if it's head down, it'll be inserted through the cranium."
"I don't know if it's developed enough to feel that," she says. "It might be."
The Live Action video references K.S. Anand, an expert on fetal pain, and the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (BJOG), showing that preborn children at 20 weeks and older definitely feel pain – likely more acutely than older children do.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a ban on abortion past 20 weeks based upon the wealth of information suggesting that unborn children can feel the pain fo the abortion by that point.
"Abortion corporations like Southwestern Women's Options and Planned Parenthood will say and do anything to 'close the deal,'" Rose said. "Leaving a woman alone on the toilet in a hotel room and saying, 'Call us and we'll come get you' – at a time when seconds can make the difference between life and death – is profoundly irresponsible and negligent. We must never forget that abortion is a business first and foremost – a business willing to destroy a helpless, voiceless child for literally thousands of dollars.
“We cannot be surprised when they send women off in the middle of a dangerous procedure for 'roomservice abortions.' But we can be disgusted, and we can demand an end to it."
Dr. Curtis Boyd, who coowns Southwestern Women's Options, also runs Southwestern Women's Surgery Center in Dallas, Texas. The facility offers abortions up to 24 weeks, the state's legal limit.
Texas became an abortion battleground in June, with Governor Rick Perry calling a special legislative session to address allegations by former abortion clinic workers that Texas abortionist Douglas Karpen routinely murders babies born alive during abortions.
Live Action said it has sent letters including the complete New Mexico footage to elected officials in both New Mexico and Texas. Recipients include Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst and the 20 state representatives who called for an investigation into the Karpen facility.
The pro-life group is demanding investigations in both states of Curtis Boyd and his staff.
"We're hoping prolife officials like New Mexico's Governor Susana Martinez will put an end to the inhuman and brutal practices going on in these facilities," Rose said. "And as Texas legislators seek to vote on a bill that would protect paincapable babies from an agonizing death, we pray that they will put an end to Curtis Boyd's bloody handiwork as well."
|
by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 6/28/13 12:17 PM
During a speech at the National Right to Life convention on Friday, pro-life Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Democrats in the Senate don’t really care that abortionists like Kermit Gosnell kill babies in what is essentially infanticide.
Cruz opened by thanking pro-life advocates for their efforts.
“Thank you for that commitment to those who are most vulnerable among us, despite the ridicule of the mainstream media,” he said.
Cruz recalled the story of when his older daughter was getting ready for her unborn younger sister to be be born. And he remembered how his daughter offered his unborn child her blanket to cuddle with and chew on for security.
“It is amazing that, as a two-year-old, child, Caroline was able to understand something that Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid don’t understand.”
“Without life there is no liberty, there is no pursuit of happiness. The ability to take life is the ultimate power and the ultimate deprivation of our God-given rights.”
“I have been honored to have the opportunity to defend life,” he said, recalling his time as Solicitor General of Texas — when he would stand strong in the courts to defend the right to life. Cruz said “Texas led the states” to defend the ban on partial-birth abortions. He also mentioned winning a unanimous battle at the Supreme Court to defend parental notification on abortion.
Cruz applauded the courts for defending Texas’ right to de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
Cruz said that in the six months he has been in the U.S. Senate, he has been proud to stand up for life — starting with a resolution concerning Kermit Gosnell and calling for Congress to investigate late-term abortion practitioners nationwide.
“Democrats wanted a resolution that condemned unsanitary health clinics” not specifically related to abortion. “They were fine with any resolution as long as it didn’t mention abortion. A clinic passing on a disease in their minds is morally equivalent to Gosnell killing babies outside their mothers womb.”
Cruz mentioned Douglas Karpen, the late-term abortion practitioner who practices in Houston, Texas who also kills babies born alive and he said Senate Democrats don’t care that someone like Karpen operates like that. He condemned news outlets that ignored Gosnell and said pro-life advocates were successful in pressuring the media to cover his murder trial.
The senator went on to talk about the forced abortions that take place in China and lamented that pro-abortion groups don’t speak up more against the grisly practice that has killed millions of babies in China.
“Democrats stood together embracing the policy of abortion no matter what the consequences,” he said of the inability to get the Senate to vote for a resolution condemning those forced abortions.
He mentioned how he is proud to sponsor the 20-week abortion ban in the Senate and compared it to the Texas battle for a similar bill.
“When Austin Democrats filibustered, they were filibustering to protect late-term abortions,” he said. In the United States you see activists defend abortions all the way up to the day of birth.”
Cruz bashed President Barack Obama for repeatedly voting against the Born Alive bill in Illinois, which would stop infanticides.
He also went after the IRS for targeting pro-life groups saying, “The federal government has no business asking us the content of our prayers.” And he contrasted the attacks on religious liberty and companies like Hobby Lobby with how the founders fled religious persecution.
Cruz received a standing ovation for the line, “In my opinion we need to repeal every single word of Obamacare.”
The senator concluded saying that elections are important but the debate for hearts and minds, when it comes to showing how unborn children have a right to life, is significantly more important is in mind.
|
by Steven Ertelt | Dallas, TX | LifeNews.com | 6/27/13 11:56 AM
Governor Rick Perry gave a rousing speech to the National Right to Life convention today and urged pro-life activists to continue pressing members of the Texas legislature to ban abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Perry responded to the mob that shouted down members of the state Senate, who came a few minutes short of passing a bill that would ban late-term abortions and hold abortion clinics accountable for violating the health and safety of women.
“Even if they lose at the ballot box and come up short with stalling tactics, they will resort to mob tactics to force their agenda,” he said. He added: “the louder they scream, the more we know that we are getting something done.”
He said what the state witnessed Tuesday was nothing more than the hijacking of the democratic process and told pro-lifers to match their intensity but in a respectful and dignified manner.
The pro-life issue is too important and discussed his call for another special session to pass the 20-week abortion ban, saying, ”I am bringing lawmakers back to Austin to finish their business,” he said. “I put pro-life measures at the top of that list.”
Nearly 80,000 unborn children are lost to abortion each year in Texas. “It breaks my heart,” he said. “Abortion is a human rights issue and is a scar on our national conscience.”
“We will ban abortions after 20 weeks. It makes sense because so many children are born prematurely,” the governor added.
Perry also talked about the abortion facility regulations in the bill.
“Any patient should have the expectation that any facilities being used for a medical procedure” should be up to standards, he said. “It is entirely their call” if abortion facilities wold rather close than operate under health and safety laws. We are under no obligation to make things easier for the abortionists. The ideal world is a world without abortion.”
“There are better options than to stop the beating heart of an unborn child,” he said.
Perry noted how pro-abortion legislator Wendy Davis rose from being a daughter of a single mother to go to Harvard and become an elected official. “Just unfortunate she hasn’t learned from her own example,” he said.
The governor said stopping abortion is a “just cause and a way to remember the 55 million who have been robbed of life.”
|
BY PATRICK B. CRAINE
AUSTIN, Texas, June 26, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Amidst a mob of shouting pro-abortion advocates, a Texas bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks failed to pass despite securing the needed votes because the voting concluded two minutes after the session’s midnight deadline.
Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis successfully filibustered the bill Tuesday for eleven hours. After that a large crowd of abortion advocates, led by Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, took over and interrupted the proceedings by shouting. State troopers were called in and at least one protester was arrested.
On Twitter, the bill’s opponents urged fellow abortion advocates to “rush the floor” in order to stop the vote. Richards herself egged them on, tweeting: “Make some noise -- louder!”
The maneuvering won approval from President Obama, whotweeted Tuesday night that “something special” was happening in Austin.
News organizations such as the Associated Press originally reported that the bill had passed in a vote of 19-10. Then there were several hours of confusion until Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst officially confirmed at 3:00 a.m. local time that the vote was too late.
Dewhurst said "an unruly mob using Occupy Wall Street tactics" had blocked the bill. "I didn't lose control of what we were doing," he said, according to the Texas Tribune. "We had an unruly mob."
Texas Governor Rick Perry, a strong supporter of the bill, could still call a special session to hold another vote.
The new law would ban all abortions after 20 weeks, when medical experts say unborn babies can feel pain. Unlike the recent law that passed the U.S. House, the Texas law has no exceptions for rape or incest.
The bill also imposes tighter safety regulations on abortion facilities, requiring abortionists to maintain admitting privileges at local hospitals and bring their facilities up to par with other outpatient surgical centers. Similar laws in other states have driven multiple substandard abortion clinics out of business. Currently, 37 out of Texas’s 42 abortion centers fail to meet the bill’s standards.
An additional provision requires women who request abortion drugs to take each one of the entire multi-day series of pills in the presence of a medical professional.
Abby Johnson was present at the legislature with her five-day-old baby.
As Davis carried out her filibuster, she said, “I was just thinking, I can’t believe the lives of thousands of children in this state are dependent right now on someone not leaning on their desk or not needing a bathroom break. It was pretty surreal.”
“It’s pretty shameful that these people that are against [the bill] would go to these tactics and do some of these antics … to try to silence the will of the people and the will of the voting body,” she said.
She said she has hope that Gov. Perry will call the special session, but added: “I just tell people, either God is sovereign or he’s not. And we believe that He is and we believe that He is in control no matter what happens.”
Lila Rose, president of Live Action, said this type of behavior should be expected from abortion advocates.
“A lot of people are talking about how the [abortion] movement should be ashamed of its behavior. How shameful it is,” she wrote. “But this is the same movement that champions ripping apart helpless, vulnerable, even pain-capable children in the womb.”
“A movement that's okay with that will have NO SCRUPLES about hijacking the legislative process. We waste time wagging fingers over civility,” she said. “[Gov. Perry], please don't let a screaming mob determine how your state is governed. Please call another session.”
Dr. Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, thanked the pro-life Texas Senators “for attempting to protect the lives and health of women and girls routinely victimized by a profit-hungry abortion industry, but sadly a large, well-funded, and powerful anti-woman coalition worked to block these much needed legal protections.”
“Since the trial of ‘house of horrors’ Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, the nation has focused on what all too often takes place behind the closed doors of abortion clinics across America,” said Dr. Yoest. “The time is now to save lives and protect women from an unregulated, unmonitored, and unaccountable abortion industry.”
|
A sweeping bill that would effectively shut down most abortion clinics across the nation's second most-populous state has stalled in the Texas Senate, and a Democratic filibuster that will only need to last a seemingly manageable 13 hours Tuesday looks like it will be enough to talk the hotly contested measure to death.
After thwarting two attempts Monday by majority Republicans to bring the abortion bill to a floor vote ahead of its scheduled time Tuesday morning, Democrats are turning to Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, to stage the marathon speech.
"We want to do whatever we can for women in this state," said Sen. Kirk Watson of Austin, leader of the Senate Democrats.
The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. Also, doctors would be required to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles -- a tall order in rural communities.
Although Texas is just the latest of several conservative states to try to enact tough limits on abortions, the scope of its effort is notable because of the combination of bills being considered and the size of the state.
When combined in a state 773 miles wide and 790 miles long and with 26 million people, the measures would become the most stringent set of laws to impact the largest number of people in the nation.
"If this passes, abortion would be virtually banned in the state of Texas, and many women could be forced to resort to dangerous and unsafe measures," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and daughter of the late former Texas governor Ann Richards.
Outnumbered 19-11 -- with San Antonio Sen. Leticia Van de Putte missing to attend the funeral of her father, who died last week in a car crash -- Senate Democrats held firm Monday to their razor-thin margin of a single vote to block the bill from moving forward.
That's key since the 30-day special legislative session ends at midnight Tuesday, meaning the filibuster Democrats have promised only needs to last the better part of one day, instead of two.
Davis gave a filibuster at the end of the 2011 session to temporarily block $5.4 billion cuts to public schools, and said she was preparing for her upcoming speech but refused to say exactly how.
She will have to speak nonstop, remain standing, refrain from bathroom breaks or even leaning on anything. Other Democrats can give her voice a break by offering questions to keep conversation moving.
"Democrats chose not to negotiate, and we could not get the block undone," said Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, a Republican who controls the flow of Senate legislation. He refused to declare the issue dead -- but others were less optimistic.
Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, said the Democrats never should have been allowed to put Republicans "in a box" and complained that many in the Senate GOP were "flying by the seat of their pants."
But the bill's bogging down began with Gov. Rick Perry, who summoned lawmakers back to work immediately after the regular legislative session ended May 27, but didn't add abortion to the special session to-do list until late in the process. The Legislature can only take up issues at the governor's direction during the extra session.
Then, House Democrats succeeded in stalling nearly all night Sunday, keeping the bill from reaching the Senate until 11 a.m. Monday.
The measure only passed the lower chamber after a raucous debate that saw more than 800 women's rights activists pack the public gallery and surrounding Capitol, imploring lawmakers not to approve it.
While supporters say it will protect women's health, abortion rights groups warn the practical effect of the bill would be to shutter most abortion providers statewide -- making it very difficult for Texas women to have the procedure.
Debate ranged from lawmakers waving coat-hangers on the floor and claiming the new rules are so draconian that women are going to be forced to head to drug war-torn Mexico to have abortions, to the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Jodie Laubenberg of Spring, errantly suggesting that emergency room rape kits could be used to terminate pregnancies.
In the end, though, the bill passed by more than 60 votes as Republicans and some conservative Democrats approved it.
Still, Legislature rules prohibit the Senate from taking up a bill for 24 hours after it clears the House. Republicans struggled to find a way to break the Democratic roadblock, but the vote swung Monday on Sen. Eddie Lucio, a Brownsville Democrat who voted for the abortion bill when it first passed the Senate a week ago but pledged not to approve suspending the rule with Republicans unless Van de Putte was able to make it to the chamber.
She didn't show and Lucio voted with his party, despite his support for the bill.
If the abortion restrictions go down, other measures could fall with it. A proposal to fund major transportation projects as well as a bill to have Texas more closely conform with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision banning mandatory sentences of life in prison without parole for offenders younger than 18 might not get votes. Current state law only allows a life sentence without parole for 17-year-olds convicted of capital murder.
Watson said Democrats are willing to pass the transportation and 17-year-old sentencing measures but won't budge on abortion.
"Let's get those up, let's get those out of here," Watson said. "Let's not make these victims of red-meat politics."
Patrick said that if the filibuster succeeds, he hopes Perry will summon lawmakers back for a second or even third special session.
"If the majority can't pass the legislation that they believe is important and the people believe is important," he said, "than that's of great concern to me."
|
