The legislature of the state of Texas is currently discussing some abortion anti-abortion laws that take away just about every right we, as women have “earned” up to this point. You see, they are not inalienable rights, they are gifts to us from the men who govern us. The ones who would that we were silent and permission seeking waifs, who in the end, know that those men know what’s right/best for us.
My sister and her family live in Texas. I have been considering if San Antonio might be a nice place to live. I’ve never lived in Texas, but I have visited and found Texas and Texans to be a friendly and genial lot.
I am now having second, third and more, thoughts about living there. This is how nice the legislature is treating women. They are denying the rights of women all over the state and seek to establish laws that make decisions about a women’s body and what goes on with it a matter of law, rather than a matter of choice. In other words, taking all rights of women to manage their own body, health and welfare out of their hands.
They seem to think that by bullying those who dare to speak out against the downright slavery they are promoting, they will quell the voices of resistance and reason by simply picking them up and removing them from the room.
Disgusting! But at least they’re doing it out in the open!
But I say hooray for Ms Slamen, who realizes that she has the privilege and the duty to speak for all TX women who are unable to attend these hearings, due to their lot in life.
More:
MSNBC: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755883/ns/msnbc-the_last_word/vp/52446718#52446718
Laura Beck: http://jezebel.com/texas-house-approves-dangerous-bill-to-virtually-ban-ab-726348746
Katie JM Baker: http://jezebel.com/awesome-texas-abortion-testimony-poetry-if-my-vagina-717474146
Katie JM Baker: http://jezebel.com/special-deal-for-texas-ladies-cheap-n-easy-flea-marke-743421982
BuddhaKat 
What is this world coming to? Is it going backwards?
Unfortunately, I fear so… I think they call it DEvolution!
🙂
It’s not just Texas. I was doing some research.
Surprised to find all this stuff: North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Ohio are working on some similar. N. Dakota: ban after 6 week/”heart beat”. Arkansas: band at 12 weeks. Kansas and Arizona already have laws similar to what TX is working on(none except med emergency of mother after 20 weeks=5months). 11 states already have bans on abortions after 20 weeks. Mississippi: docs performing abortions must have hospital admitting privileges nearby. 29 states already have some sort of legal requirements for meeting requirements like clinics and ambulatory surgical centers.
Even if they manage this bill, it will not change the way things work in the TX valley region – lots of “clinics” there that import meds from Mexico…Houston/Dallas, too.
Just going to make unregulated clinics stay in the shadows…where they already exist and everyone knows about it.
These legislators may believe they are helping, but they must live sheltered lives.
That horrid clinic in Philadelphia with botched late term babies/fetuses being drowned and slashed really started outrage that set all this up.
It’s all going to end up in court.
The bottom line – if you say you want to respect other’s beliefs and cultures, then you must accept others don’t believe like you – this bill forces one belief system on all
But stunned to find out it’s not just Texas…why has this all been done so quietly?
It was in the (federal) public eye during the pre-election clamor, but now that states are taking up these issues, it seems to be under the radar.
Over the past couple years I’ve contacted my state and federal legislators regarding issues that I feel strongly about, but become discouraged when the only replies I’d get were “canned” responses guiding me to the politicians’ websites to see “what they’re working on now”. Makes me wonder why they even encourage us to “contact our representatives” at all!
Other than that, I wish I knew what I could do. What will happen is these horrible laws will be created, then to fight them one must take it to the Supreme Court. Given the short window of opportunity for those seeking abortions, what good would that do? It probably wouldn’t even get before the court before the woman gives birth!
Isn’t it sad that we, such an “evolved” and powerful country are in the end sending our citizens to get medical care “in the shadows”, thus upping the risks involved? That’s why Roe v Wade was good, it brought the patients out of the back alley clinics.
I too am surprised at how widespread this legislation is. But, then again, not!
Thanks for your eloquent comments!
🙂
I was stunned, too. All you can do is keep contacting elected officials – so they hear both sides, not just one.(Some are more responsive that others…There will be elections) It will go through the courts – and as it has before it will take longer than the pregnancy term for someone. RIght now the focus here needs to be getting the clinics the required equipment donated so they can stay open. If water hits a dam, it finds away around and keeps flowing. That has to be the game right now. (I predict the Plan B pill company will be making a ton of money with these restrictive laws…women will be afraid to wait)Thanks for responding
Texas also has a kid in jail since February for a joke he made on Facebook. You are smart to reconsider a move there. There seem to be fewer and fewer people with common sense. Sadly, I fear things will get worse before they get better since most of us are too distracted by smartphones and Kimye’s new baby to pay attention to the erosion of our rights and to demand and vote for better representation.
Excellent post!
Thanks, sandylikeabeach… how sad it is that this kind of attitude is gaining favor all across the country. I wish I knew what I could do to make a difference, but I feel the politicians and their draconian ideas are becoming law, sending our society into a frenzy of dark alley clinics and inhumane behavior. They have the $$$ to make it happen and to quell those who speak out against them. Even if it IS unconstitutional removal from the room!
🙂
Mouse is correct as it is not just Texas .. and sadly to say, my state (Ohio) is travelling a similar path on this issue. Just another example of how the GOP wants to shove certain values on all.
As a third generation Texan, I love my state but those who currently hold us hostage have destroyed our freedoms, destroyed our education systems, destroyed our economy, destroyed our infrastructure. We are first only in the very worst ways. We are are last in many things no state should wish for or aspire to. Our state Constitution has been usurped and undermined horribly. Our voting rights have been diminished, terribly within 2 hours of the SCOTUS ruling.
I love my state but unless we, those of us who also love this state no matter our political leanings can put it back to rights, can fix what is terribly broken this is not a state to migrate to.