(The cartoon above is by John Branch at branchtoon.com.)Well, the Texas GOP finally got it done. They have passed a bill that would close 37 out of 42 Texas clinics that offer women abortion services -- forcing many women to have to travel 300 to 400 miles to exercise control over their own bodies. Those who cannot will be forced to once again resort to unsafe back-alley procedures. The bill also bans abortions after 20 weeks -- even though those were rare and usually performed only to protect the health of a woman.
The Republicans will claim this was a measure to protect women's health. That is a LIE. By forcing women back to using unsafe (and unqualified) abortion providers, and not allowing the procedure to protect the health of a woman, the bill actually puts women in more danger. The bill is nothing more than a sneaky attempt to get around Roe v. Wade and outlaw abortions. And it shows that the GOP has no interest in giving women rights equal to those of men (who do have control over their own bodies).
Legislative Democrats fought valiantly to prevent this awful bill. To get it passed, the GOP had to go through two special sessions (at a cost of a million dollars each), cut off testimony on the bill (leaving hundreds of citizens wanting to testify), and change the rules of the state senate (which requires two-thirds support to bring a bill up for a vote). Now the bill goes to the governor.
The Republicans (and their teabagger base) think they have won a great victory, but it is only the end of the first chapter of this saga. Chapter two starts as soon as the governor signs the bill into law, because there will be a court challenge -- alleging this bill violates a woman's constitutional right to choice. That fight will likely go all the way to the Supreme Court eventually (and cost the state a few million more dollars).
And chapter three will be played out over the next year and a half -- as newly energized Democrats and Independent women fight for women's rights by working to unseat the Republicans controlling state government. At a minimum, I expect the GOP to lose seats in the state legislature in 2014 -- and with a popular candidate (Wendy Davis), the Democrats could possibly win back the governor's office. This won't be easy, but I haven't seen Texas Democrats this energized and ready to fight for twenty years.
