Texas Clamps Down On Abortion Rights In A Pre-Dawn Vote This Morning

At 3:23 this morning, the Texas State House of Representatives voted to drastically reduce a woman’s ability to exercise her Constitutional Right to safely terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Even at that early hour, the crowded gallery erupted with “boos” and cries of “Shame on you!”

On a largely party line vote, the overwhelmingly Republican House voted 97-33 on an Omnibus Abortion Bill made up of individual bills that had been defeated or blocked during the regular session. The House took up the measure in a special session called by Governor Rick Perry, because the threshold for passage is greatly reduced.

The dead-of-night vote comes after last week’s widely publicized debacle, in which 700 citizens held a “People’s Filibuster,” signing up to address the legislature with three-minute personal remarks on the subject. Seven hours into the citizen’s speeches, with 300 speakers still not heard from, the House Speaker cut off the citizen testimony period, calling it “repetitive”.

What appears to be repetitive in Texas is the state’s aggressive posture in waging a war on women.

The Texas Senate had already passed SB-5, their version of the abortion bill, and a House vote to approve that same bill would have landed it on the governor’s desk for his enthusiastic signature. But because the House added an amendment limiting abortions to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, a provision already struck down by the Supreme Court, the bill now returns to the Senate, where it could be subject to a Democratic filibuster. Since the special session ends tomorrow, (unless Gov. Perry calls another one,) it remains unclear whether there will be time for the upper chamber to consider the House bill.

Republicans claim this bill will make abortions safer, and protect fetuses from feeling pain. Democrats reject that assertion, pointing to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s public remark that the bill will virtually end abortions in Texas by shutting down clinics. The women of Texas seem to be saying, loudly and clearly: “Get your hands off my reproductive rights.”