Keep Abortion Legal and Safe

Nuff said.

How Much did Senate Railroading Cost?

The abortion-outlawing legislation passed and all the hoopla is over.

Believe it or not, we can actually put a price on the railroading that took place in the State Senate.

We've previously spotlighted the Senate Parliamentarian, Karina Davis, here and here.  Thanks to the fact that she is a public employee her salary is available for us.

According to the state, Karina Davis' annual salary is $122,592.12.

Of course, I'm sure the benefits of shredding Senate rules go even farther.  Not only does Davis get $122,000 annually, she has given herself tenure.  How can Senate Republican justify firing her after she ?

Texas Parliamentarian Karina Davis has Record of Railroading Rules

Earlier, we presented an award to the Texas Senate's Parliamentarian for her terrible interpretation of the rules on Tuesday.  Turns out there's more.

Apparently Texas Senate Parliamentarian Karina Casari Davis already had a record of trying to circumvent the rules and railroad dissenting views.  In 2011, David Hanna, the Texas Legislative Council’s lawyer, sent an email to Karina Davis, copying her husband Doug Davis who was Dewhurst’s senior policy advisor on redistricting.

Hanna advised Karina that it would not be a good idea to upload a new redistricting plan with the Council—even though it would be hidden from the public—because it would still be time-stamped and thus show that amendments to be offered by minority representatives were clearly not going to be considered at all—even before they were even offered. So much for democratic principles!

He didn’t think it would be good for preclearance when the Justice Department would review Texas’s redistricting plans.  

In 2004, Dewhurst replaced Walter Fisher with Karina Davis, even though she had limited parliamentary experience.  A search on the State Bar of Texas site also reveals that she is not an attorney, a qualification you might expect for a new Senate parliamentarian with almost no experience.

Her husband Doug is one, a graduate of Texas Tech Law School and currently a lobbyist for the Texas Wholesale Beer Distributors.

Ron Wilson Award for Rules Enforcement Goes To...

Senate Parliamentarian Karina Davis:

For anyone who watched the Texas Senate on Tuesday, you saw Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth).

But you were also treated to the sight of a woman in white on the dais standing to the left of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R) and any other Republican Senator acting as chair.

Dressed in white you might have thought she was a shoulder angel, giving the Senate President the honest advice on how to handle the rules.

Unfortunately, this angel would have been better dressed in red and standing on the Senate President's right.

Salon probably sums it up best:

For at least an hour, it was great theater. State parliamentarian Karina Davis spent a lot of time looking like gymnast McKayla Maroney, whispering sideways into Dewhurst’s ear and seeming not terribly impressed.

This year's Ron Wilson Award for Rule Enforcement is presented to Senate Parliamentarian Karina Davis for her complete railroading of the rules.  You may remember when former Rep. Ron Wilson was installed by former Speaker Tom Craddick as House Parliamentarian in order to hold onto power at any cost.

Her performance last night proved she's not a parliamentarian, but a political hack.  Damn the rules, full speed ahead!  Any honest parliamentarian would have correctly interpreted the rules even to the dislike of the Republicans.

Talking about Planned Parenthood's budget in relation to an abortion bill is completely germane to a bill that would restrict abortion.  Strike 1. Talking about the sonogram bill that passed last session and is law and the additional burden placed on women if SB5 were to become law is completely germane to the bill.  Strike 2.  Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin) never yielded the floor to Sen. Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls), therefore Estes motion was out of order.  Strike 3.  Karina Davis...you're out.

What's not germane is Karina Davis remaining parliamentarian when she clearly doesn't know the rules.

Women on Women Action in the Texas Legislature

Who would've ever thought you'd see women on women action taking place in a legislative body?  Let alone the Texas Legislature.

Yet that's what any observer has been treated to.  These are the Republican women in the Texas Legislature who have said that abortion by coat hanger in Texas is just fine.  These are the Republican women who have said that abortion can only happen if you can afford it...which will primarily be rich white women.

 These abortion clinics do more than provide abortions.  Let's take Planned Parenthood, since that seems to be the constant fly in the ointment for Republicans.

According to Planned Parenthood's website, they offer the following at their various clinics across the state: Abortion Referral, Abortion Services, Birth Control, General Health Care, HIV Testing, LGBT Services, Men's Health Care, Morning-After Pill, Pregnancy Testing & Services; STD Testing, Treatment & Vaccines, Women's Health Care.

Of the 58 clinics Planned Parenthood lists on their website, 14 provide Abortion Services or 24%.  52 provide Men's Health Care.  51 provide Birth Control, Morning-After Pill, Pregnancy Testing & Services, STD Testing, Treatment & Vaccines, and Women's Health Care.  50 provide HIV testing.  46 provide General Health Care. 36 provide LGBT Services. 2 provide Abortion Referral.

With the passage of SB 5, the women pictured above have essentially said goodbye to all these available services.

But they've said more than that.  They have essentially given the green light for women to have their epitaphs read, "Dead from regulation."

So tell me, how does closing these clinics and these services protect and improve womens' health?

Texas keeps bottom 10 rank in kids' welfare

The GOP-led Legislature wants to essentially outlaw abortion in Texas without explicitly outlawing abortion.  This is one of those issues where government regulation is okay.

So the GOP wants to get rid of abortion and force women to have babies.  So what type of Texas will these babies be born in to?

According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, not a very good one.  From the San Antonio Express-News:

Texas remains among the bottom 10 states when it comes to children's well-being, according to an annual ranking by a nonprofit that advocates for at-risk kids.

The state improved two places in the rankings, to 42 from 44, in the 24th annual 2013 Kids Count study, released Sunday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, based in Baltimore.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources, the study found that Texas generally improved in education and health while it stagnated in the area of family and community. Economic well-being worsened, reflected in the 1 percentage-point increase in the child poverty rate in Texas, to 27 percent in 2011, the latest number available. The national rate also rose 1 percentage point to 23 percent, but remained below Texas.

On the plus side, the state's rates of child and teen deaths fell, as did teen births. Its percentage of youngsters without health insurance also declined, from 18 percent in 2008 to 13 percent three years later.

Still, the U.S. rate of children without health insurance improved from 10 percent to 7 percent over the same period.

Texas Legislature in Schiavo Session

I think we can officially say that the Texas Legislature is no longer in Special Session.  They're now in Schiavo Session.

For those who remember the Terri Schiavo controversy, you'll remember when Congress was called back into session in order to pass some controversial social legislation on a Sunday.

Now the legislature is working on a Sunday trying to punish women with its abortion legislation

I guess the Scripture according to the GOP must include some additional passage about resting on a Sunday...except when it comes to attacking womens' health.  Then Sunday isn't a day of rest, it's a day to wage war.

Gov. Perry: I Hate After Birth

On Dec. 11, Gov. Oops confirmed that he hates After Birth.  No, no the placental expulsion, although for most "pro-life" Republicans it can mean the same thing.  In this case, After Birth refers to the fetal expulsion that grows into a child, and hopefully an adult, and gracefully into a senior citizen.

Looks like we're going to have a fetal pain law on the books here in Texas.  Quick question: Is there any other medical procedure that is this regulated?  Additional quick question: If  men were the ones who got pregnant, would these fights over abortion be happening?

But I digress...

At this announcement with the Governor was a future legislator who is going to be a never ending source of jokes, State Sen. Donna Campbell:

“How tragic to think that these babies suffer pain, a cruel and unnatural death, for simply being unwanted while they’re in the womb,” said incoming state Sen. Donna Campbell, a Tea Party Republican from New Braunfels who was also on hand in Houston to support the measure. “It’s time to strengthen our laws to be in line with what science tells us is possible.”

I feel sorry for the suffering, pain, and cruel visits that people to the ER are subjected to when Donna Campbell is on call.  AND NOW a Republican cares about science.  Science for abortion = yes.  Science for evolution = HELL NO.

I don't know why the governor and others don't just come out and say it, "We love fetuses.  We just hate everything that comes after."

Question: Will this fetal pain bill come with anything other than a mandate?  Maybe additional funding for pregnant women?  Maybe funding for lab work & tests, prenatal vitamins?  Maybe an expansion of SCHIP to cover low-income pregnant women?

Somehow I doubt it.

We're 1st in the nation for uninsured people, but we need a fetal pain bill.
We're 49th in the percentage of low income people covered by Medicaid, but we need a fetal pain bill.
We're 48th in the percentage of people with employer health insurance, but we need a fetal pain bill.
We're 43rd in the amount the state spends on health, but we need a fetal pain bill.
We're 50th in mental health spending, but we need a fetal pain bill.
We're 49th in state spending on Medicaid, but we need a fetal pain bill.
We're 4th in the nation for people living below poverty, but we need a fetal pain bill.
We're 47th in monthly WIC (women, infant, & children) Benefits, but we need a fetal pain bill.

Let's face it, this being Texas, we're likely to get a fetal pain bill. But very unlikely to get any funding for those pesky things, like schools and health care, that actually help a population to grow and live.

I'd like to ask Governor Oops, how many of these anti-After Birth bills are we going to be subjected to?