TEXAS IS A TRAGEDY

Greetings. I am a voting constituent in rural west Texas. “As children in Texas, A and her sister were raped multiple times by their stepfather and his friends before she found she was pregnant earlier this year. “We both had STDs because none of them used condoms,” A said. Their stepfather stopped sexually abusing them when he found out the sisters were treated at a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases. One of his friends did not. The sisters fled to a domestic violence shelter when A found out she was pregnant, and managed from there to find abortion pills through a network of underground activists. “If I couldn’t have an abortion, I would have killed myself,” A said. “The man who raped me was a pig, and I did not want to have his baby inside of me.” Since Roe v Wade was overturned by the US supreme court in 2022, 14 states have passed near-total abortion bans. Ten of those states, including Texas, have no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. A study published earlier this year estimated that 65,000 rape-related pregnancies probably occurred in states with abortion bans since Roe fell.” The Guardian 8/11/24 This is just a small excerpt from this horrific article. And points out the empty rhetoric and blatant hypocrisy in our state’s Republican leadership. Gov. Abbott proclaimed publicly and loudly that lack of recourse for rape victims after the fall of Roe v Wade would be a non-issue as he would get all rapists off the street. Turns out a lot of rapists aren’t actually on the street. They’re part of a household. What does our governor have to say about protecting these citizens of his state? Where is the same righteous commitment to justice? What will he do for these children trapped in an unimaginable, but all too real, situation beyond their control? What will any of you do? Our governor wasn’t even aware of a recent study showing how infant mortality in Texas has risen dramatically since abortion bans were put in place. But he affirmed with certainty that Dems are busily killing babies after birth. This is governance? No, it’s not. It’s what happens when responsibility for major personal decisions are sent back to a state governed by ideologues. The Republican Party under Donald Trump made certain that suffering by children can continue. And the Republican Party in Texas made certain their suffering would be magnified. Children will be forced to live with the consequences of your party’s actions. Your abuse of power has consequences. And it is wrong. You are wrong. History will prove that point. In the meantime, please send thoughts and prayers to children in Texas. That may be the only help they get.