From my totally awesome friend and sister-in-the-struggle Katie Sherrod ... fresh from the Texas trenches:
On the eve of the Fourth of July, we all need to remember that "the price of liberty is eternal vigilance" (usually attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but which Jefferson probably got from the statement "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance" by the Irish statesman John Philpot Curran.)
Remember, we all knew from the beginning that nothing will stop this draconian anti-abortion legislation from eventually passing in the Texas Legislature because the Rs have a majority in the House and the Rs in the Senate will not enforce the 2/3s rule in the Special Session. (I love the way the pundits keep pointing that out, as if we hadn't noticed. We women just need so much help, don't we?)
The point of the protests are to fight back as hard as we can to put the Rs on notice that there will be a cost extracted for what they are doing to women.
So what happens after it passes?
Court challenges in the short term, and expanding voter registration, voter education, voter turnout in the long term. The numbers of young women and men who have been galvanized by this issue are important, and now the job is to keep them involved, engaged, and turning out. This is especially true in the Hispanic community, in which young people are much more progressive than parents and grandparents.
So Texans have their work cut out for them.
What can an outsider do? Donate to groups who are organizing this. Donate to Planned Parenthood. Donate to the Texas Democratic Party.
And pray. Pray that we have the necessary strength, courage, and stamina this will take. We can do this. We will do this.
3 comments:
My comment on this thread?
Draco the Athenian scribe was known for his his severe punishments for small offenses.
Truly the unborn baby (a small offense) is suffering greatly (murdered in the womb) under today's Draconian Law -- which is TEC's first love, Abortion on Demand.
The price of Liberty of the unborn human, is Eternal Vigilence.
JCF ... not sure what you mean by that.
LG ... Seriously. For the record TEC's position a woman's right to choose is as follows:
"All human life is sacred from its inception until death. The Church takes seriously its obligation to help form the consciences of its members concerning this sacredness. Human life, therefore, should be initiated only advisedly and in full accord with this understanding of the power to conceive and to give birth which is bestowed by God.
We regard all abortion as having a tragic dimension, calling for the concern and compassion of all the Christian community. While we acknowledge that in this country it is the legal right of every woman to have a medically safe abortion, as Christians we believe strongly that if this right is exercised, it should be used only in extreme situations. We emphatically oppose abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection, or any reason of mere convenience."
Once again: You are entitled to your own opinions. You are not entitled to confuse your opinions with facts.
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