House Bill 2659
Filed: March 9, 2011
Author: Rep. George Lavender, R-Texarkana
Given George Lavender‘s pledge of support for the Sen. Dan Patrick-led tea party caucus – officially, the Independent Conservative Republicans of Texas (though how independent they can be when their membership boasts a majority of Republican lawmakers is unclear) – there’s something sadly ironic about the freshman lawmaker filing a bill that ignores the U.S. Constitution and advocates for government intrusion. It seems that whole government intrusion thing applies to everyone, except when everyone is a woman, in which case the pols down at the Capitol are more than happy to have government intrude whenever – and however – possible. Lavender’s HB 2659 would basically outlaw all abortions in Texas, with exceptions made only if a doctor determines the procedure to be necessary to prevent the woman’s death or physical impairment, or in cases of rape or incest (as long as the woman can somehow prove that’s how the fetus was conceived) – the current draft of the bill would eliminate “severe and irreversible [fetal] abnormality” as an exception to the rule. The biggest problem with this bill, of course, is that it ignores constitutional protections and U.S. Supreme Court rulings that firmly protect reproductive privacy and freedom. Not that a little thing like that should stand in the way of legislative grandstanding – after all, it’s not like state lawmakers, facing a $27 billion budget shortfall, have anything else really pressing to attend to, right?
This article appears in March 18 • 2011.