Texas Women Suffer Under Republicans

 Porsha Ngumezi died after not getting a D&C in the emergency department at Houston Methodist Sugar Land. Lizzie Presser and Kavitha Surana, reporting for ProPublica the non-profit investigative newsroom found that thirty-five-year-old Porsha Ngumezi’s case raises questions about how abortion bans are pressuring doctors to avoid standard care even in straightforward miscarriages.

D&C refers to dilation and curettage, a common procedure for early pregnancy miscarriages and abortions. Mrs. Ngumezi was bleeding at the hospital for 6 hours passing blood clots the nurses reported were as big as grapefruits and had received two transfusions. In a case like Ngumezi's miscarriage the doctor would typically perform a D&C which is the removal of the remaining tissue from her uterus and the bleeding would end.

The obstetrician on duty, Dr. Andrew Ryan Davis, said it was the hospital’s “routine” to give a drug called misoprostol to help the body pass the tissue. Trusting the doctor Mrs. Nguzemi took the pills, but the bleeding continued. The doctor had been informed that she had a blood-clotting disorder which increased the danger of her going into hemorrhagic shock. Three hours later Porsha Ngumezi’s heart stopped. The medical examiner found the cause of death to be hemorrhage.

Porsha Ngumezi’s death was preventable "according to more than a dozen doctors who reviewed a detailed summary of her case for ProPublica."

Nguzemi's death and the deaths of other Texas women since 2022 when the Texas abortion ban went into effect suggest the law is pressuring doctors to diverge from the standard of care and choose less-effective options that could expose their patients to more risks. Other doctors and patients have described similar decisions they’ve witnessed across the state.

Porsha Ngumezi, a mother of two young boys, was sacrificed to Texas Republicans on the anti-abortion altar they erected. The draconian law is so broad that medical procedure that is used for both abortions and miscarriages is effectively outlawed in Texas regardless of whether or not the fetus is already dead. The legislature has already had an opportunity in 2023 to fix the law and couldn't be bothered to protect the lives of Texas women. How many women have to die before Texans revolt and vote out Republicans?

I am the husband of a woman who went through three miscarriages. I am the father of a wonderful daughter who is of age to have children. I fear for her in this state that she might suffer a miscarriage like her mother but be unable to get the care she needs like her mother did 30 years ago. I'd do anything to get her out of state or out of the country to save her life but in a situation like Mrs. Ngumezi suffered we likely wouldn't be able to get her somewhere she could receive the necessary treatment in time. I've been angry about this legislation and the impact it has on women since before the governor signed it into law and I just keep getting angrier as more women suffer and die while Republicans do nothing. When will the fanatics be held accountable? How Texas voters keep re-electing people who have no empathy toward the suffering of others is beyond my comprehension.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 11, 2024

Promoting Christianity in Public Schools a Bad Idea

 A couple of weeks ago the Texas State Board of Education in an 8-7 vote has decided that public schools will have the option to use Bluebonnet Learning curriculum which now includes religious teachings, mostly Christian, as part of reading and language arts as well as history and social studies. There are a few references to other faith traditions but they are token mentions grafted on so the publisher can says the curriculum isn’t biased. The best part is that school districts are being bribed by the SBOE to use Bluebonnet Learning as they’ll get extra state funding for using it.

The Christian holy book is of course the bible, but the various Christian sects can’t even agree on a bible let alone doctrine.

Since the King James version is the most widely used, more than half of Americans use it. For the sake of argument let’s say it is the version chose to work from. Do you remember or did you ever learn that the King James Bible was demonstrably written with an agenda? King James I of England caused it to be written primarily to solidify the power of the Church of England and himself by providing a standardized English translation that would promote religious unity within the kingdom. Some scholars, such as Michael G. Rather Jr. of McNeese State University, argue that certain passages were translated with specific intent to subtly support the King's power and the established order.

Are we sure we want to be teaching public school students using a text that promotes a purported “God’s chosen” as the ultimate authority for the leader of our government. That didn’t work out well for James I successors and our founding fathers knew it when the Constitution was written.

The men who wrote the United States Constitution and the amendments were all familiar with the problems caused by mingling religion with governance. The English Revolution of 1688 which saw King James II deposed over his preference for Catholics had occurred in the lifetime of many of their grandparents and as educated men they would have known about it. In addition those men would have been aware of similar turmoil suffered in Scotland and Ireland as well as all across Europe since the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in 1517. James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution as well as author of the First Amendment, was involved in passage of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776 which is an important precursor to the constitution because for the first time ever many of the protections of individual rights later found in the Constitution were codified in it. The important passage to note for the purposes of this discussion is "all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion". Article VI says in part “no religious Test shall ever be Required as a Qualification To any Office or public Trust under the United States” making clear that no matter a person’s religion or even lack thereof they cannot be prohibited from holding public office.

The first amendment expands on that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, …”. The intention is clearly to prevent the government from selecting a national religion and thus leave it to the individual to choose on their own what if any religion to follow. That is exactly what Texas Republicans have done in deciding to offer Bluebonnet Learning in our public schools.

Why do Republicans insist on reverting to a failed idea especially when it is contrary to the very founding fathers they claim to revere?

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 4, 2024