An Angry Texas Woman

Last night I felt both proud and utterly ashamed to be a Texan. Up until I became a parent I considered myself to be a Christian Republican. Maybe a little more liberal than your average Republican as I've always been pro-choice and for marriage equality but a conservative none-the-less. I knew what none of that meant.

I was raised by the son of a son of a son who all fought in our country's wars, WW1, WW2 and Vietnam. I'm a card carrying member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and if I so chose could do the same for Daughters of the Texas Revolution. I was raised on American pride and American ego and to an even further degree Texas pride which goes hand in hand with the Texas ego. We are the only state in the nation that can literally be picked out by any child in any classroom almost worldwide. Seriously, show a kid in Japan a picture of the State of Texas and he'll tell you what and where it is. We're bigger, we're better and we don't mind telling you.

And to be honest I don't mind any of that. I'm proud to be a Texan, I have the big hair and the big... um... lady parts, to prove it. See Texas women are southern but with a harder edge. We can set a formal dinner table and kill the meat to put on it. We can kiss our children good night and be up at dawn to drive cattle. And we were raised being told we could do anything we want, say anything we want. And I always believed in that.

Until last night.

I'd seen it coming. That wish from the men in our state that maybe they shouldn't have done such a good job raising us Texas women to be so opinionated. Maybe they should have quieted us a little more when we were younger. Maybe they should have tried to kill the Texas spirit that seems to grow wild and free within us.

Ever since college, my first real taste of the world outside my small town rural bubble, I had realized I was more of a moderate. Fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I believe in human rights... as in you can't deny anything to anyone based on their sex, race, color, creed, or sexual orientation. And in this state that make you a liberal. And I believe in small government and you need to keep your hands off my money. I'm a dichotomy, I know.

I don't vote a straight ticket and I sure as hell didn't vote for the men who tried to push SB5 through last night. And I sure as hell didn't vote for Rick Perry. That man is an imbecile on his best days. I don't care what side of the pro-life/ pro-choice line you stand on, SB5 was about a Republican agenda to circumvent Federal law. A way to basically ban abortions in our state. A way to strip rights given by our constitution from women in Texas.

This is not a small state. I know this because I live in DFW and I grew up in Ozona, approximately 6 hours southwest of here. Where I grew up there was no Walmart or McDonalds. We had an emergency room but if you needed surgery or a bone set or were having a heart attack then you were ambulanced or Care Flighted out of our county 80 miles to San Angelo. My family ranch burned in 2011 due to the wildfires that scorched our great state. And I had friends who simply did not understand why firefighters didn't just put out the fire. The shear size of this state is sometimes hard to comprehend.

So why would men (and women, there were a couple all for SB5) who claim to want nothing but good health care for the women of this state want a bill to pass that would essentially shut down all clinics in these smaller rural areas? Well, because they perform abortions of course! Forget that they also perform well women visits and mammograms, provide sex education and birth control. And please tell us how its for the safety of women. That if that clinic can't afford to become an ambulatory care center, than it can't possibly be safe.

Please make it illegal for doctors to perform ALL late term abortions even if carrying full term is to the detriment of the unborn fetus, the mother and the family. Please make it even harder for victims of incest and rape to get care and please be sure to tell them that since they didn't get to the "clean me out" rape kit in time that they'll just have to carry that child to term and deal with repercussions at that time.

My sarcasm drips, I know.

Dewhurst and his lackeys tried their damnedest to pass this bill off as being about the protection of women's health, about our safety. And yeet they tried to do it under our noses, hoping no one would notice. What exactly does that say? Let me tell you how they could have made this about women's health and safety: pass legislation that gives funding to these clinics and brings them to whatever standard you see fit. Pass legislation that gives access to sexual education in impoverished areas of our state, teaches girls about what they should do in the case of rape, provides them with safe houses and puts plans in place for their safety. Pass legislation that gives women the tools they need to make wise and educated decisions regarding their health. Pass legislation that makes it harder for late term abortions but still allows doctors to make decisions based on the health and well being of their patients. and last but certainly not least...

Please stop pretending you know what's best for women unless you've actually discussed it with them. The outcry from the women in Texas should have been enough for every single one of our representatives and senators to take a step back and think, "We should maybe reconsider such divisive action." But no one did. They just plowed on with their omnibus bill to the detriment of all Texas women. Because why should they care? Their wives and sisters and daughters will always have access to whatever they want. For that matter so will I. I'm a middle class white woman. I could very easily say this is simply not my problem. But you see that is where the liberal in me starts to show.

I truly believe I owe it to the women of my great state to stand for something other than myself. I owe it my gay friends to say, "WHY?!" Why can't they get married. It doesn't affect the sanctity of my marriage one iota. I owe it to the girls without mothers to protect them and to the scared teenage girls to be their voice. My silence helps no one. And I wasn't raised to be silent. Why should I start now?