The picture above may sound harsh, but it's true. Governor Perry doesn't like regulations on corporations, oil & gas drilling, bankers, environmental pollution, college tuition, wages, or nearly anything else. I say nearly because there is one area that he thinks needs more regulating -- and that is in the area of women's rights. He has already vetoed a bill to promote equal pay for women, and now he has opened the special session of the legislature to allow new regulations preventing women from being able to control their own bodies.And he isn't alone in his war on women. His Republican buddies in the state legislature are in lock-step with his anti-woman agenda. And they were quick to try and restrict women's rights with new regulations. The Senate quickly passed a bill that would shut down all but five abortion clinics in the state (even though they had to suspend Senate rules so the Democrats couldn't stop the bill) -- which would make women seeking that procedure to travel 400 miles or more (a real hardship for women who are poor or do not have their own transportation). That bill has now gone to the House.
When the House scheduled hearings on the bill, more than 700 people signed up to speak on it (most of them in opposition to it). But the Republicans don't really care what those people had to say. After a few hours of testimony, they cut off discussion -- leaving hundreds of those who had signed up and waited hours with no ability to be heard on the bill. Then the House Committee, behind closed doors, passed the new restrictions (which would close most women's facilities in the state and ban abortions after 20 weeks). Now the bill goes to the full House, where the GOP has a substantial majority, assuring passage.
But it wasn't just the 700+ that showed up in Austin that will be disappointed by the heavy-handed legislative actions. A new poll shows that substantial majorities of Texas voters also oppose the actions being taken against Texas women. That poll is a survey done of 601 registered voters between June 17th and 19th by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. Here are the results of that survey:
Should the special session focus on jobs, education, and the economy instead of abortion?
yes...............80%
no...............14%
Does Texas law already restrict abortion enough, or are new restrictions needed?
enough restrictions now...............63%
new restrictions needed...............27%
Should abortion decisions be made by a woman, her family, and her doctor -- or do politicians have the obligation to pass restrictions on that decision?
made by woman, family, & doctor...............74%
politicians have obligation to restrict...............19%
Do you trust Gov. Perry and the legislature to make decisions about women's health?
yes...............34%
no...............57%
Do you favor the closing of all but 5 abortion clinics, and banning abortions after 20 weeks?
yes...............42%
no...............51%
Clearly, the legislature (and governor) are operating against the wishes of a majority of Texas voters, but that is nothing new. They have never cared about anything but their right-wing ideology and fattening the bank accounts of their rich and corporate friends.
And here is another fact for those of you who might think this poll was weighted to favor Democrats. About 11% of the respondents were Independents, while 50% were Republicans (39%) and Republican leaners (11%), and about 37% were Democrats (29%) and Democratic leaners (8%).
