It was a hectic Sunday at the Texas Legislature. Thank you to tall who took action and contacted your reps during the holiday weekend.
Here’s what happened on what turned out to be not much of a holiday for legislators.
Sanford’s anti-LGBT amendment
State Rep. Scott Sanford, R-McKinney, did not get an opportunity to offer an amendment allowing discrimination against LGBT people who want to provide loving homes to children. The amendment may be offered again as early as Tuesday when the House debates Senate Bill 206. Here’s some background on Sanford’s proposal. And you can tell legislators you oppose the amendment by going here.
Cruel anti-abortion amendment
State Rep. Jonathan Stickland. R-Bedford, pulled down an amendment that would force a pregnant person to carry a nonviable fetus to term. Stickland did so in lieu of another anti-abortion measure, SB 575, which almost died last night before being revived at the last minute. This late move, by the way, involves Rep. Stickland reportedly almost getting into a physical altercation with a Republican colleague.
HB 3994
HB 3994 was not heard in the Senate as was expected Sunday. The bill would make it harder for abused and neglected teens to obtain what’s known as a judicial bypass to obtain an abortion. On Sunday evening the Senate sponsor of HB 3994, state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, pulled another controversial provision from the bill, one requiring anyone seeking an abortion, regardless of age, to provide a government-issued ID.
While nixing the ID provision is good, the bill is still a bad bill.
#hb3994 still a bad bill even w/ the change. It targets our most vulnerable teens & we'll keep fighting it #txlege https://t.co/MvdyThIJcb
— ACLU of Texas (@ACLUTx) May 25, 2015
TFN and its partners will keep fighting it, too. It may be debated and voted on as early as today in the Senate, which is what we’ll be watching today.
Opponents of HB 3994 have been organizing around the hash tag #HereForJaneTX, so look for that on social media for updates. Also, if you haven’t already, take action here and tell legislators to oppose any laws that would further restrict abortion.
That’s it for now as we enter the last week of the legislative session.
3 Comments
My mind refuses to wrap itself around the mean-spirited jackass from Bedford. What would be gained by forcing a woman from carrying a dead lump of fetal material? Is it just to satisfy the hate filled monster who calls himself a representative? I wonder how many of his constituents have asked him to harm women like that?
Jesus said that people would know who they were by their works, obviously that guy isn’t a Christian. Neither am I, for that matter, but I don’t go around fooling people into believing I am one.
What a bunch of fruitcakes. What? Some jerk in the Texas legislature was asking a pregnant person to take a mass of God-aborted goo to term and then pay hospital bills to deliver it? This is not just stupid—it is just plain sick—not to mention the health risk to mom. Fruit C-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ks!
Yes, Charles, chalk it ups to the TEAliban’s war on women. People like him are identical to the Arab’s view of women; they are not considered whole human beings.
Strickland needs to be recalled, but the people in Bedford are too chicken to do so.