On
this date, June 18, 2013, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law, Texas
Senate Bill 5. I will post information from Wikipedia and another news source
about this Pro-Life Bill.
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An illustration of Texas on Senator Bill 5
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://mountiewire.com/senator-wendy-davis-fillibusters-abortion-bill/]
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INTERNET SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Senate_Bill_5
Texas Senate Bill 5 (or Texas SB 5) is a bill that was created on
June 11, 2013, and was discussed during the First Special Session of the Eighty-third
Texas Legislature and was signed into law by Governor Rick Perry on
July 18, 2013.
Bill
content
Texas
Senate Bill 5 is a list of measures that would add and update abortion
regulations in Texas. These measures include a ban on abortion at 20 weeks
post-fertilization and recognize that the state has a compelling
interest to protect fetuses from pain. The bill would mandate that a doctor who
performs abortions have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, and to
require that clinics meet the same standards as other surgical health-care
facilities in the state. Another provision would require oversight of women
taking abortion-inducing drugs such as RU-486.
The bill would not apply to abortions necessary to save the mother's life or to
prevent permanent bodily damage from a pregnancy.
History
First
Special Session
On
June 25, 2013, Senator Wendy Davis
began a filibuster in attempt to block the bill by
maintaining the floor until midnight, when the Senate's special session ended,
after which the state Senate would no longer be able to vote on the measure.
After ten hours, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst ruled that Davis had gone
off topic after Davis began talking about a sonogram bill, forcing a vote on
whether the filibuster could continue. Despite efforts to pass the bill,
parliamentary enquiries from Leticia R. Van
de Putte and other senators, as well as disruption from the gallery
caused the session to go on through midnight, the official closure of the
special session. Following the deadline, Republicans indicated that a vote had
taken place and passed 19–11, while Democrats declared that the vote had taken
place after midnight, making the vote void. Dewhurst later conceded that the
bill was passed after the deadline and was considered dead.
Timestamp
issue
After
the bill was thought to have been passed, a record was added to the official
web page on the history of the bill. According to the page, the timestamp of
the bill's passage was listed as the 26th.
Later, the page was taken down and altered to say that the bill was passed on
the 25th. According to Texas Penal Code, Section 37.10, it is a crime to make
an alteration that is false in a government document or record. According to
the Legislative Reference Library of Texas the Texas Legislature Online system
"... is not the official record of those actions, and [the Legislative
Reference Library staff] enters actions on TLO as a public service independently
of the officers of the house or senate." The Public Integrity Unit has
begun an investigation into the events after receiving complaints.
Second
Special Session
On
the 26th, Governor Rick Perry added
the bill as part of three bills in a second special session, with the name
Senate Bill 2. Perry stated that it was due to the "[...] breakdown of
decorum and decency to prevent us from doing what the people of this state
hired us to do."
The
second session began on July 1, with supporters and opponents of the bill
showing up in large crowds at the Texas Legislative building while wearing blue
or orange shirts in support of their side.
The
Texas House passed the bill on July 10, 2013, by a 96–49 margin and sent the
measure to the Texas Senate.
The
Texas Senate passed the bill on July 13, 2013 with a bipartisan vote with a
19-11 margin. The bill was signed by Gov. Rick Perry on July 18, 2013.
The
bill was eventually passed by both the House and the Senate in the July 2013
second special session and was signed by Gov. Rick Perry, prompting one
commentator to state that "Wendy Davis won the battle, but Rick Perry won
the war."
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Billy Joe and Tuesday's controversial
placard, that went viral on the net.
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Public
response
Organizations
and people on both sides used websites like Twitter and the Texas Tribune to
share their side and learn more, with several hashtags becoming popular on
Twitter. Coverage and a livestream of the Texas Legislature by the Texas
Tribune has been said to have been the reason that the bill became national,
and later international, news.
Images
of the placard carried by pro-choice activists Billy Joe Cain, his daughter
Tuesday, with the message "JESUS isn't a DICK; so keep him OUT of MY
VAGINA!" went viral, the resultant controversy was reported nationally and
internationally.
Debate
Many
people who are against the bill have opposed the requirement that would force
clinics to follow the same standards as surgical centers, since it could lead
to the closure of the clinics and result in large areas of the state to not
have access to a clinic. Supporters of the legislation have stated that the
purpose of the new law is to protect women’s health and unborn children, citing
precedents like the recent Kermit Gosnell case.
Abortion
access in the state of Texas has seen a serious decline since the passage of
Senate bill 5. There were 44 facilities that performed abortions in Texas in
2011, When the law is fully implemented in September, that number is expected
to drop to six. Amy Hagstrom Miller, the chief executive of Whole Woman’s
Health, which has challenged provisions of the law in court. "I tried everything
I can. I just can’t keep the doors open.”
INTERNET SOURCE: http://joshfults.com/2013/06/27/things-to-know-about-senate-bill-5/
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Things to Know
About Senate Bill 5 [PHOTO SOURCE: http://joshfults.com/2013/06/27/things-to-know-about-senate-bill-5/]
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Things to Know About
Senate Bill 5
On
June 25, Senate Bill 5 was under consideration for legislature in the state of
Texas. The bill would require that all abortion clinics be certified as
ambulatory surgical centers and would not allow abortions to be performed after
20 weeks of pregnancy. Democratic Senator, Wendy Davis, had other plans. She
filibustered the bill and delivered a 10 hour speech in hopes of delaying the vote.
The bill was eventually voted on, amidst the chaotic circus of protesters, and
passed, but it occurred after midnight and was rendered null. On June 26,
Governor Rick Perry called for a special session on July 1st to reconsider the
bill.
It
is important for us to take into consideration the importance and dramatic
scope of Senate Bill 5, for if it passes dramatic changes will take place
involving how abortion services are delivered in the state of Texas. The
passing of the bill would mean the closing of roughly 80% of abortion clinics
in the second most populated state in the union! There are approximately 215
abortions performed daily in Texas. What would that number look like if Senate
Bill 5 passes? How many lives will be spared from premature obliteration under
surgical blades and suction hoses?
I
hold to the view that life begins at the moment of conception and believe that
abortion is a moral evil regardless of when it is performed. I stand firmly on
the substance view of human personhood, which states that every organism is a
substance of a particular kind of being that undergoes changes, but these
changes do not affect what they are essentially. Many try to delineate when
exactly life begins based on many different criteria. In other words, they may
speculate that life begins when the fetus reaches certain development
milestones such as cognizance or sentience. Yet, just because a human cannot
exhibit all of it’s capacities all the time through life does not mean it is
not a full-fledged human being! This is the idea behind the substance view of
personhood.
When
it comes to abortion, the argument about when life begins has become largely
moot because many pro-choice advocates agree that the unborn child is alive.
The issue has become that of autonomy and personal liberty. Many in favor of
abortion view their right to personal liberty as taking precedence over the
child’s right to life, which is completely absurd. One person’s freedom to
choose overrides the unborn person’s right to live.
The
question I would like to pose, is why shouldn’t late term abortions (after 20
weeks) be abolished? It has been well documented that babies in late term
abortion feel pain, possibly as early as 6-8 weeks gestation. Many will argue,
well drugs are administered to send the child into cardiac arrest so the
surgical procedure is not felt, yet, who says that being sent into cardiac
arrest is not painful? I personally have no desire to see what it feels like,
but I have spoken to some that say it is not pleasant, to say the least. Why
wouldn’t we want to stop late term abortions if they potentially cause the
unborn to experience even the slightest amount of anguish? Is it not humane to
refrain from doing so? Yet, the real issue at hand is the closing of so many
abortion clinics across the state. It appears that the pro-choice advocates are
more concerned about availability than the potential pain it might inflict on
the unborn. It would also make sense that these procedures should take place at
surgical centers. We wouldn’t want women having abortions at chop shops,
butcher houses, or in coat hanger closets would we? Why not pass this
legislation? Because it would bottleneck the availability of abortions, that’s
why.
We
should also be reminded of what late term abortions look like. One must
consider the development level the unborn has reached at this juncture. Francis
Beckwith states that at 13 weeks the child can “kick his legs, turn his feet,
curl his toes, make a fist, suck his thumb, bend his wrist, turn his head, frown,
open his mouth, press his lips tightly together. He drinks amniotic fluid.”
Then he says at 22 weeks, “He is now about a foot tall, weighs one pound. Fine
baby hair begins to grow on his eye brows and head. He sleeps and wakes just as
he will after birth.” If that sounds all too human, it is because it is human.
This is the point of development reached by a child when late term abortions
are performed.
Recently,
the highly credentialed, Dr. Anthony Levatino, a former abortionist who is now
pro-life, described late term abortion procedures in explicit detail.
He was testifying in support of a bill that would ban all abortions after 20
weeks nationwide. The procedure he describes is known as “Suction D&E”. In
his testimony, he placed in display the primary instrument used to extract the
fetus called a Sopher clamp. He states, “This instrument is for grasping and
crushing tissue. When it gets hold of something, it does not let go.” He
continues, “Once you have grasped something inside, squeeze on the clamp to set
the jaws and pull hard – really hard…You feel something let go and out pops a
fully formed leg about six inches long. Reach in again and grasp whatever you
can. Set the jaw and pull really hard once again and out pops an arm about the
same length. Reach in again and again with that clamp and tear out the spine,
intestines, heart and lungs.” He laments that the most difficult part is
removing the head. “You will know you have it right when you crush down on the
clamp and see white gelatinous material coming through the cervix. That was the
baby’s brains. You can then extract the skull pieces. Many times a little face
will come out and stare back at you.
There
have been 57 million legally induced abortions within the United States since
1973. Lets pray that Senate Bill 5 passes. It will save the lives of some,
though the many will be killed.
Every
life matters. Let’s weep with the 57 million that never experienced all that
life offers. Let’s pray for legislation to be enacted that speaks for those
without a voice. Let’s create a culture of life.
Walk
good. Live wise. Be blessed.
Josh
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