Here are some of the week’s most notable quotes culled from news reports from across Texas, and beyond.
Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Ft.Worth, in a tweet expressing her intention to filibuster the legislature’s abortion bill.
The leadership may not want to listen to TX women, but they will have to listen to me. I intend to filibuster this bill.
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State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, during the filibuster of Senate Bill 5.
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Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, after just barely failing to sign the most restrictive abortion legislation in the nation before the legislature’s special session ended. He intimated that another special session may be called soon to try again.
I didn’t lose control (of the Senate chamber). We had an unruly mob. . . . It’s over. It’s been fun. But see you soon.
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Gov. Rick Perry, calling a second special session to begin on Monday focusing on the same issues as the last.
I am calling the Legislature back into session because too much important work remains undone for the people of Texas. Through their duly elected representatives, the citizens of our state have made crystal clear their priorities for our great state. Texans value life and want to protect women and the unborn. Texans want a transportation system that keeps them moving. Texans want a court system that is fair and just. We will not allow the breakdown of decorum and decency to prevent us from doing what the people of this state hired us to do.
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Gov. Rick Perry, saying state Sen. Wendy Davis shouldn’t stand up for women’s rights because her mother didn’t abort her.
What if her mom had said, ‘I just can’t do this, I don’t want to do this.’ At that particular point in time I think it becomes very personal for us.
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Jeff Zarrillo of Burbank, one of the four challengers to California’s same-sex marriage ban, after receiving a telephone call from President Obama congratulating them on the victory at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Paul invited him to our wedding; he said OK.
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Texas state Rep. Jody Laubenberg, R-Parker, who apparently believes rape kits are the same thing as abortions.
In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits where a woman can get cleaned out. The woman had five months to make that decision, at this point we are looking at a baby that is very far along in its development.
That Perry comment is kinda telling, and a good example of a logical flaw in their thinking.
Assuming her mother was in a position in which an abortion was even an option (which he seems to be assuming), then what he’s doing is taking a situation in which a woman choose to bear a child: that is she was healthy enough, emotionally stable enough, and financially stable enough, to have a child.
Then they switch it to say ‘well what if she aborted’, but of course she didn’t. To make her change her mind, you’d have to also change her circumstances.
For example, you could say that she just didn’t want to get pregnant. But if you do that, you could also assume proper use of contraceptives. If she had control over her reproductive system, the pregnancy would have just never occurred in the first place.
Maybe her mother wasn’t financially ready to be a parent instead. But then would the Rep have had the nutrition needed to do well in school? Would her parents have been around enough to nurture her? Could they have afforded college? What if, instead, the pregnancy was aborted and she was conceived later once her mother was able to care for her?
You can’t just change a decision without also changing the circumstances that lead to that decision. And that makes things a LOT more complicated than the GOP cares to consider. They’d much prefer these strawwoman arguments that don’t exist.