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Protestor Removed From Texas Abortion Bill Hearing

Benjamin Li |
July 11, 2013 | 9:26 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Protestors line the halls of the Texas Capitol building in response to the HB2 bill. (Lauren Gersen/Flickr Creative Commons)
Protestors line the halls of the Texas Capitol building in response to the HB2 bill. (Lauren Gersen/Flickr Creative Commons)
Tensions in Texas are high over anti-abortion measures proposed by the Texas House of Representatives calling for new restrictions on abortion within the state.

An indignant citizen named Sarah Slamen voiced her opposition on Tuesday to the anti-abortion bill so vehemently that her public testimony was unconstitutionally discontinued by presiding lawmakers, who ordered her to be removed from court by three security officers.

"The Texas legislature are a bunch of liars and hate women!" shouted Slamen as she was forcibly escorted from the courtroom."

In an interview with Daily Kos, Slamen said that she had not received an explanation from the lawmakers for why she was forced to end her public testimony and leave the courtroom.

From Daily Kos:

"Senator Jane Nelson tried to say I was being disrespectful but how would she know? I barely got to give the complete performance review of every member on the committee. Pointing out that Sen. Dona Campbell is an ophthalmologist is not disrespectful when she asserts in a state hearing that she should be THE expert on reproductive health. What was disrespectful was the parade of anti- choice zealots and misogynists who got up for 13 hours and called women murderers, killers, promiscuous, thoughtless, and selfish. Not a peep from committee chair Nelson on those."

On Thursday, the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed the anti-abortion bill known as House Bill 2, which will be moved to the full Senate floor for the last step towards ratification as soon as this Friday.

Dissenting Texans began humming "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister as the senators began to vote on the bill, eventually singing so loudly that the senators' votes could not be heard and a security team removed them from the scene.

The measure will effectively close down all but six abortion clinics within the entire state of Texas, and make it illegal for a woman to undergo abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. House Bill 2 is essentially the second attempt to pass the bill named Senate Bill 1, the anti-abortion bill that was stopped in its tracks by Senator Wendy Davis' filibuster during a legislative session.

SEE MORE AT: Texas Senator Holds Filibuster To Defeat Strict New Abortion Bill

Rick Santorum, former Senator and presidential candidate, spoke for the anti-abortion constituency by giving his own perspective on the upcoming bill. 

"This is an important moment for everyone to recognize where the abortion debate really is in America," said Santorum during a press conference. "[The pro-life movement] is the movement of love. That's what this movement is about."

The optimistic outlook of Santorum's press address on behalf of the pro-life movement is not shared by many Texan citizens who strongly disagree with the passing of House Bill 2, especially citizens like Slamen.

"To be frank, I get to move to New York next month," announced Slamen during her public testimony. "I'm going to a state that doesn't kill its own inmates. That's how pro-life it is up there."

 

Check out the video of Sarah Slamen's rant:

Reach Staff Reporter Benjamin Li here:



 

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