While over in the Texas House of Representatives many, many bills met their fate when a key deadline passed Thursday night, lawmakers in the lower chamber did accomplish a few things, including, unfortunately, passing even more abortion restrictions.
And with those bills now approved in the House, the debate over that legislation now shifts to the Senate, and we need your help to fight back against these proposals by coming to the Capitol on Monday.
One bill, HB 3994 by state Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, makes it harder for minors seeking an abortion to obtain what’s know as a judicial bypass. This, from the Texas Observer:
A parental notification law requires that Texans under the age of 18 get their parents’ consent before having an abortion. However, minors can turn to the courts to seek a legal, confidential judicial bypass when they fear they’ll be abused at home because of their pregnancy, or don’t have a parent to consent.
HB 3994 by state Rep. Geanie Morrison (R-Victoria), among many things, increases the burden of proof on the minor from a “preponderance of evidence” to “clear and convincing” evidence, a change House Democrats took issue with early in the debate.
The bill also requires everyone, regardless of age, to show a government-issued ID to obtain an abortion.
Another bill, HB 416 by state Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, cynically uses the issue of human trafficking to impose yet another regulation on abortion providers. Our friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas have more information on this bill.
Both bills are now scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. And this is where you can help. Come to the Capitol for the hearing, which starts at 8 a.m. Monday, and register against the bill or sign up to testify against it.
If you can’t make it to the Capitol, click here to find your state senator’s contact information and tell them you oppose these bills.
Anti-abortion lawmakers did enough damage when they passed a slew of abortion restrictions during the 2013 legislative session. We have to do what we can to stop them from making things worse.
4 Comments
These sick so called reps will not stop with this BS until we vote their sorry asses out of office. I am sick to death of what these ignorant religious fundamentalist have done all over this Country. We need to get people out to vote in Texas for this crap to be stopped in its tracks.
Conservative Christian Fundamentalist Evangelists Extremists Are The American Taliban !
Army of God? Here Are 6 Modern-Day Christian Terrorist Groups You Never Hear About:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/04/army-of-god-here-are-6-modern-day-christian-terrorist-groups-you-never-hear-about/
The American Taliban: http://www.perrspectives.com/features/Taliban.htm
Quotes from the American Taliban: http://adultthought.ucsd.edu/Culture_War/The_American_Taliban.html
American Taliban – The marriage between religious fundamentalism and market conservatism is as strong as ever. Book review by Robert Kuttner ‘Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party’ By Max Blumenthal, Nation Books:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=american_taliban
Christian Preachers Calling For Death Of All Gays - America’s Religious Taliban?:
http://samuel-warde.com/2014/12/christian-preachers-calling-death-gays-americas-religious-taliban-video/
“‘American Taliban’ is not too powerful a descriptor for some of the fundamentalist Christians prowling our nation’s streets, churches, and official places.” ~ Lawrence Wilkerson. MRFF* Advisory Board Member,
*Military Religious Freedom Foundation http://www.MilitaryReligiousFreedom.org
I call them the TEAliban. Their aim is to make this a fascist state within the next 20 years.
The TEAliban have cut education to the bone and it is an uneducated people who listen to the lies they put out and vote for “the party of Lincoln” without realizing that there is no longer any such thing.
If they won’t leave voluntarily…
This is putting the lives of these young survivors at grave risk. This is exceedingly dangerous and life threatening. Exactly what are you proving. Religious moral superiority?