You can't hope for change if you condone tyranny by your silence: Texas women stand up for themselves

Texas lawmakers are currently rushing an omnibus anti-abortion bill through a special session, after each of its provisions failed to advance separately during the regular legislative session. But not without being met with a fight. Over 700 Texans traveled to Austin on Thursday to testify against the anti-abortion measure before it could come to a vote in the House — and their “people’s filibuster” successfully prevented the legislation from advancing…. An estimated 700 people registered to testify. Some protesters waited up to 12 hours to speak against SB 5, and supporters from across Texas ordered pizza, cookies, and drinks to be delivered to them throughout the night on Thursday.

In a time when millions remain out of work, yet more millions remain without health care, and our infrastructure crumbles around us, what are Republicans worried about? You could be forgiven for thinking that they’re committed to doing whatever’s necessary to bring America back…but you’d be dead wrong. No, today’s GOP is hell-bent on passing legislation that relegates women to second-class status as the property of men and does away with the silly notion that they rightly should control their own bodies. They’ve introduced terms like “TRAP laws” and “personhood” into our political lexicon, while doing exactly nothing to address the very real and pressing problems facing this country. I suppose this is what you get when you elect morally bankrupt ideological zealots to offices where they can do real damage. In Texas, they’re starting by setting up satellite offices in the uterus of every woman of child-bearing age.

Texas is following the lead of other red states by attempting to pass legislation that leaves abortion rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade intact in theory while making it practically impossible to provide abortions and other reproductive health care services. State lawmakers are discovering along the way that Texas women aren’t going to sit idly by and allow a cabal of well-fed Conservative White male zealots to pass Senate Bill 5. SB 5 would close all but five abortion clinics in Texas, regulate medication abortion (the morning after pill), and ban abortions after 20 weeks. The impact would be felt most by low-income women who lack the resources to pursue reproductive health care in states that don’t view as chattel.

Women in Texas aren’t taking this threat to their rights well. For too long, Texans have mutely acquiesced to whatever crazy anti-democratic plan the Texas GOP hatched and attempted to force upon them. SB 5 may just represent a bridge too far. Over the weekend, supporters of women’s rights descended on Austin to stage a “Citizen’s Filibuster”. It drew a lot of press coverage, but in the end Republicans got the all but inevitable victory. Despite the efforts of Democrats to delay and kill the bill, it was brought to a vote and passed early this morning. Governor Pander McCrazy will sign the bill as he proclaims that the God’s blessings will rain down upon the God-fearing denizens of the Great State of Texas. Except that this has nothing to do with Christianity; it’s about “small government” establishing a beachhead in the uterus of every Texan female of childbearing age. It’s about Right-wing hypocrisy and hatred of women taken to the nth degree.

Congratulations, Texas; you elected the single-minded hyper-religious zealots who this morning turned back the clock to a time when the womenfolk were the rightful and unquestioned property of men. If you live in Texas and you can’t believe with your Legislature just did, remember that this is what happens when you elect Republicans.

Welcome back to the 13th century.