Today the Texas Freedom Network joined with six coalition partners for a “Call to Action” on reproductive health care at the Texas Capitol. Here’s the joint press release we sent out:

TEXANS DEMAND ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE

Attacks on Reproductive Health Care Must Be Stopped, Advocates, Faith Leaders, and Lawmakers Tell Crowd

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 26, 2015

Today a diverse group of Texans from across the state joined forces with a broad coalition of organizations at the Texas State Capitol to call on lawmakers to support policies that restore trust in Texans to make their own reproductive health care decisions, respect for health care professionals, and access to safe, timely abortion care.

Speaking at an event on the Capitol steps, Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman’s Health, explained that the Trust. Respect. Access. campaign aims to build a movement for reproductive freedom in Texas.

“Texans have endured tremendous political interference that has eroded access to quality healthcare across the state, all based on the lies of extremist politicians,” she said. “Today we commit to change the conversation around abortion, reverse some of the most restrictive policies on reproductive healthcare and push… Read More

Last Thursday the Texas Freedom Network joined with six other organizations in launching a multi-year campaign for reproductive health care in Texas: Trust. Respect. Access. Here’s the press release we sent out:

Coalition of Seven Organizations Launches Reproductive Health Care Campaign in Texas

AUSTIN – At a press conference today, a coalition of seven organizations launched a multi-year campaign, Trust. Respect. Access., to promote policies that restore trust in Texans to make their own reproductive health care decisions, respect for health care professionals’ judgment, and access to the full range of reproductive health care. The coalition includes: ACLU of Texas, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH), Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, Texas Freedom Network, Texas Research Institute, and Whole Woman’s Health.

In their remarks on coalition-endorsed legislation, State Reps. Mary González, Donna Howard, and Jessica Farrar highlighted how their proposals would further the coalition’s initiative. Dinorah Martinez, a community health worker in the Rio Grande Valley, addressed the profound barriers to reproductive health care access, and spoke of ways Texans are mobilizing around reproductive justice concerns.

Fatimah Gifford, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Whole Woman’s Health: “We’ve seen firsthand the devastating consequences… Read More

Reproductive health care in Texas, including abortion care and access to birth control and family planning services, has been under constant attack in Texas. Now politicians are trying to drag our public schools into the abortion wars.

At least three proposed bills in the current Texas legislative session focus on abortion and public school classrooms.

House Bill 205 by state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and Senate Bill 477 by state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, would bar an entity or individual that performs abortions or an affiliate of an entity or individual that performs abortions from providing sex education information to public schools. That this legislation is really directed at Planned Parenthood, which provides effective sex education courses and instructional materials, is hardly a secret.

Leach proposed similar legislation in 2013, although his bill two years ago (which failed to pass) would have also required schools to get prior permission from parents before allowing their children to attend any sex education class. HB 205 this year doesn’t include that provision. (Parents already have the right to keep their children out of sex education classes.) But the new bill still has the state dictating to local school districts rules they must follow on sex education,… Read More

The Texas Freedom Network has joined with six other organizations in issuing a joint press release about today’s U.S. Fifth Circuit Court hearing on House Bill 2, the extreme anti-abortion law passed in 2013 by the Texas Legislature.

AT FIFTH CIRCUIT HEARING, GROUPS UNITE IN FIGHT AGAINST HB 2

Appeals Court to Consider Challenge to Extreme Anti-Abortion Law in Texas

In anticipation of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s hearing on Whole Woman’s Health v Lakey, the second legal challenge to Texas’ omnibus anti-abortion law, House Bill 2 (HB 2), seven groups—ACLU of Texas, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH), Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, Texas Freedom Network, Texas Research Institute, and Whole Woman’s Health—have joined together in opposition to HB 2, uniting in the fight to protect access to safe and legal abortion care in Texas. Representatives from ACLU of Texas, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, NLIRH and Whole Woman’s Health will be present at today’s hearing in New Orleans.

ACLU of Texas, Terri Burke, Executive Director: “Extremist politicians passed HB 2 to shut down health care clinics and prevent women from getting abortions. We hope the Fifth Circuit will reverse course and listen to… Read More

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus thinks people will believe almost any lie. That’s the only explanation for why he would lie so baldly today when he was asked about the Texas abortion law that, as of Friday, has left open just seven clinics providing abortion care in the entire state of Texas.

Today on NBC’s Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd asked Priebus about the law that the Texas GOP rammed through the Legislature in 2013. Here’s Talking Points Memo’s report on the exchange between Todd and Priebus:

“One of the things about the Republican party is you don’t like a lot of regulation on businesses, except if the business is a abortion clinic,” Todd said to Priebus. “80 percent of these abortion clinics in Texas are going to be basically out of business because of this new law. Too much regulation, is that fair?”

“Well, you obviously have to talk to someone in Texas” Priebus responded. “But the fact of the matter is that we believe that any woman that’s faced with an unplanned pregnancy deserves compassion, respect, counseling, whatever it is that we can offer.”

Todd then asked Priebus how forcing women to “drive 200 or 300… Read More