Politics

Texas for Life

UPDATE: The AP is now reporting that lawmakers missed the midnight deadline to have the vote, which means that the bill did not indeed pass. Governor Rick Perry may call another special session to get the bill passed. This isn’t over yet. Stay tuned.

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Today the news is going to be dominated by the decisions coming down from the Supreme Court on gay marriage. But I don’t want anyone to miss what happened in Texas last night. Texas lawmakers passed a bill that bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and requires that all abortions take place in a surgical center. The bill also requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where the abortion is performed.

So what does all this mean? It means that if signed into law this bill that would shut down 37 of Texas’ 42 abortion clinics. It means that the culture of death has just been dealt a major blow in our nation’s second most populous state.

17 Comments

  • Alex Chediak

    Denny,

    I think Freddy is right. They needed a “yea” vote by midnight, but didn’t get it. That said, Gov. Perry may call the legislature back into special session anytime during the interim.

  • Chris Ryan

    One thing to say: I <3 Wendy Davis. Whadda lady! She's my new hero.

    Abortion is really a matter of religious conscience & Rick Perry has no business injecting himself in others' religious conscience. He gives Pro-Life a bad name. He's pro life right up until the baby is born & then forgets all about it afterward.

    • Tom Parker

      Chris:

      Texas is set to execute their 500th person since the death penalty as reinstated in 1976. This 500th person is a woman.

      • Chris Ryan

        Yeah, Tom, you’re right. As I was saying Perry’s everyday actions mock the term, “Pro Life”. Soon as I seem him do as Christ did and start working to help the sick, poor, and downtrodden, I’ll take that back.

      • Chris Ryan

        My reading of the Bible, Akash, says that Life does Not begin at conception… And there are no scriptures that say otherwise. So, I don’t think its murder.

        I’m not sure where the idea came that life begins at conception. I think Reagan was the one who popularized it. He was no religious scholar. Its certainly a poetic religious belief, but its not a belief based on a literal reading of the Bible.

        Under the Law causing a woman to miscarry was treated as a fine; it was not treated as murder. The NT doesn’t address it at all.

        But this discussion merely proves the point. Why should my next door neighbor be forced to live her life according to your or my religious beliefs? She has to decide for herself what’s right and wrong. If God doesn’t force men to accept Him, neither can we force men to accept Him. We are not some newfangled Pharisees trying to mold the Law as we think it should be. Our charge is to win souls for Christ.

        • Akash Charles

          causing a woman to miscarry had ramifications in old testament law!!!!

          Exodus 21: 22-23

          as for “forcing our religious beliefs” lets look at murder- we force it on others and say it is illegal, same with stealing others property etc are you not forcing your beliefs on society as well!!!!

          how is making abortion illegal forcing people to become Christians?!

          so I ask why not let each individual decide whether murder is right or wrong – then we can return to the days before Christianity created order in western society!

          Forcing beliefs is exactly how we keep society ordered!!!- otherwise there would be chaos

          also this bill is against abortion after 20 weeks, thus it bans abortions when the fetus can feel pain etc ( u seem to have no problem with torturing a living being , which I find concerning)

          I can understand a debate about conception whether there is actually life or not but at 20 weeks it is pretty obvious.

          Anyways when a murder advocate is seen as a hero it reminds me of how sinful and blind WE humans are and all the stupid mistakes I have made

          why not support a woman’s right to choose wise life decisions instead ?

          anyways I am glad this bill is going to pass, Texas can now lead the way in protecting life as well as having arguably the strongest economy

          • Chris Ryan

            I didn’t say that the OT had no repercussions for causing a miscarriage. I said that the husband could fine the offender which is precisely what Exodus 21:22-23 says. But, most importantly, the Law did not consider this murder.

            Actually Akash the science behind whether or not a fetus feels pain at 20 weeks is dubious at best. And that’s a charitable description. Remember the same ppl saying this are the same saying the outright lie that abortion causes breast cancer.

            From a Christian viewpoint its unclear what the pain issue even means. Does everything that feels pain have a soul? Certainly not.

            In fact even many Pro Life Christians don’t *really* consider fetuses to be “life”, they consider it to be a *form* of life. That is why they can support Rape and Incest exceptions to abortion laws–b/cs fetuses are only a form of life, not actual life.

            I submit that holding the view Rape & Incest exceptions are ok is completely antithetical to the view that fetuses have a soul. Imagine the court that finds a man guilty of rape. That court wouldn’t then go off and kill the rapist’s mother b/cs the man had committed rape. She’s a separate, individual altogether. How then, if a fetus is a separate soul altogether, can it be ok to abort a fetus b/cs a woman was raped?

            The answer is that it can’t be & that is why the Catholic Church holds that there can be no Rape or Incest exception. But, as I said, many Pro Life Christians (maybe even most Pro Life Christians) think there must be an exception for Rape & Incest. Hence, fetuses are really only a form of life, even for many Pro Life Christians.

            • Akash Charles

              um it is not dubious , the nervous system has developed anyways by then so there is pain, so in now way is this fact a comparison to the whole abortion causes breast cancer claim

              again its 20 weeks if those who are raped can still receive abortions and you again divert the fact that you think and advocate for murder is hero when the other side is not even talking about abortions less than 20 weeks!!!!!

              It does not have a soul so it is ok?- where in the bible does it say a human being has a soul only after birth!!! If that is your reasoning really anyone can be killed and if you like that it would not surprise me

              so you think it is okay to torture animals to death after all we know they have no soul! , or are you ready to protect soulless animals over supposed soulless fetuses!!! ( which is likely the case)

              • Chris Ryan

                Gen 2:7: “God…breathed into his nostrils the breath of Life; and man became a Living Soul.”

                That’s where it says it.

                I don’t *know* when a fetus becomes a soul & because I don’t know it I don’t see how I can possibly tell some woman I’ve never met that her fetus is a living soul.

                If you know with certainty when a fetus becomes a living soul then your Bible has pages in it mine doesn’t have. Or, you’re using non-Biblical beliefs. And there’s no scientific reasoning that can prove that a fetus has a soul.

                So, at the end of the day, you’re left with just a poetic belief that life begins at conception, b/cs nothing in the Bible supports that theory, and no scientific test can demonstrate that the fetus has a soul. But while its a poetic belief there’s nothing poetic about telling a woman she can’t control her own body.

                • Akash Charles

                  mine is simply based on life- your argument is based on whether there is a soul or not- you did not answer if you favor the torture of animals?!!!

                  also you did not disagree with a developed nervous system by at least 20 weeks!

                  thus u still think a murderer is a hero

                  If you just say it is okay for a woman to murder her unborn child- I shall accept your belief because you believe a fetus is not living ( even 2 minutes before the baby comes out)

                  however u seem to think it is okay to kill life!!

                  also if this is about forcing beliefs why not allow murder of adults by individuals who believe they should have the choice to murder- you did not answer that before

                  the fact that you keep changing the topic and refuse to answer the questions is a clear indication that for you murder is not a problem- and you call yourself a christian?!

                  as far as I know Jesus never condoned murder

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