Proof Republicans Lack Moral Courage

It’s astonishing to me that contrary to what Republican legislators like Senator Bryan Hughes says about his 2021 anti-abortion bill SB8, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is dead set on proving that claims that Republican passed anti-abortion laws apply even when a woman’s life, health, and future ability to have a child is at risk.

This latest episode started with Kate Cox, a 31 year old Dallas mother of two, who was delighted to learn she was pregnant with her third child then months later learned that the fetus suffers a lethal anomaly which could cause it to be born only to die within hours at best and at worst die in her uterus and a cause fatal infection that even if treated could cause to be unable to ever have another child at worst. She wants to terminate her pregnancy and while Sen. Hughes and others claim the law allows that doctors and hospitals and their lawyers say that’s not what the law says. A Travis County district judge granted a temporary restraining order allowing Mrs. Cox to terminate her nonviable pregnancy.

A.G. Paxton then sent a letter to three hospitals, threatening legal action if they allowed the abortion to be performed at their facility. Next Paxton asked the Texas Supreme Court to intervene and they have issued a stay on the temporary restraining order, meaning the existing law remains in effect so no abortion for Mrs. Cox, she’ll just have to suffer the consequences of Republican over-zealousness.

Some months ago Hughes wrote a letter to the Texas Medical Board asking for an investigation into "disturbing allegations" that patients with serious pregnancy complications were being sent home from the hospital without care. Hughes wrote "Pregnancy complications such as these should be swiftly and reasonably treated to prevent or address a medical emergency determined by the physician," asking the Texas Medical Board to issue guidance on the issue.

Paxton is the state’s lawyer and he believes that there are no conditions under which terminating a pregnancy is not a violation of Texas law. This is the same Ken Paxton who has been impeached for accepting bribes and other crimes in order to cover up his adultery and provide his mistress with a job and home in Austin. Paxton has also been indicted for violations of federal securities laws.

About half the population of Guadalupe County is represented in the Texas Senate by Dr. Donna Campbell who talks about her career as an emergency room physician and her anti-abortion stance whenever she campaigns. You’d think that a physician, a career that most of us associate with extreme compassion, would be the first to recognize that sometimes terminating a pregnancy is medically necessary. Campbell has not once made an effort to amend the state’s anti-abortion legislation to make it possible to address the complexities of pregnancy that she must know full well exists. Of course, she’s also among the majority of Senate Republicans that voted to acquit Ken Paxton in his impeachment trial even after Paxton’s former chief assistant described his efforts to encourage Paxton to step back from his dishonorable actions and dismay at having to resign and report Paxton’s behavior.

There’s a reason that maternal mortality dropped over much of the last century but has been going back up here in Texas for the last few decades. How many women will have to die, how many will have to lose their ability to have children before these Republicans who lack empathy are forced to back off even a little on their zealous application of narrow-minded law?

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 13, 2023