So, the Lege passed the Coat-Hanger Bill here in Texas, despite massive outrage on the part of the Texas citizenry. While the idea of these wretched men doing this is horribly upsetting, the reality of it is probably the terrible thing that had to happen for change to occur. While very hard in the short term for so many families facing awful, complicated, personal tragedies that should be handled between family members and doctors, in the long term, I think the net effect will be good because
These Patriarchal People Will Never Be Elected Again.
Mind you, I do not mean that about every single legislator who voted for the bill. I am not a one-issue voter myself and there are a very, very, very tiny number of legislators who voted for the bill (okay, I can only think of one - Abel Herrero - but there are probably one or two more) who have such an excellent voting record of voting for the rights of the poor and downtrodden in Texas, for our schools, for our children and for our environment, that I would not forget that because of one rather gigantic area of disagreement. Given more time to hear from more constituents at more length about how this bill is not just about the morality of abortion, an issue over which our country is pretty evenly divided, I think some legislators would have come to understand the more complex issues of control and family and health involved in this bill. I think the Republicans rushed things so fast partly so that would not be able to happen.
Most of the legislators who voted for this bill need to be drummed out of office in the next election for certain, though.
Then, with more caring and egalitarian legislators in office, we can repeal the law and work to truly reduce the number of abortions that occur (rather than just reducing the number that occur without killing women) by increasing access to high quality, comprehensive sex ed, contraception, emergency contraception and family supports and decreasing poverty.
Look towards the future...
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