Contending that too many voters stand against a GOP measure that would ban most abortion clinics in Texas, Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood's president, writes at the Huffington Post that Texas Gov. Rick Perry's last-ditch effort to revive the measure in special session will not work, especially after state Sen. Wendy Davis' famous filibuster.
The Texas Legislature is back at the Capitol today, trying to pass a bill that would wipe out access to safe and legal abortion for millions of women in the state.
These are some of the most extreme abortion restrictions in the country. They could shut down 36 of the state's 42 health centers that provide abortion and, in some cases, also provide lifesaving cancer screenings and birth control.
If this all sounds familiar, it's because we've seen this bill before.
Governor Perry and his allies couldn't pass these dangerous restrictions during the regular session. And even after they bent every rule, silenced the very constituents whose lives would be affected by the bill, and voted in the middle of the night when they hoped no one was watching — they couldn't do it on take two. The entire country saw how that ended: with Texas Senator Wendy Davis on her feet, hundreds of thousands of people on the edge of their seats, and the rest of us cheering like crazy in the Capitol rotunda.
So Governor Perry decided that if at first you don't succeed — and if on the second try, you still don't succeed — just cross your fingers and hope no one will notice that you're going for a hat trick.
Unfortunately for Governor Perry — we noticed.
Read Cecile Richard's entire piece at the Huffington Post.
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