Governor Rick Perry gave a rousing speech to the National Right to Life convention today and urged pro-life activists to continue pressing members of the Texas legislature to ban abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Perry responded to the mob that shouted down members of the state Senate, who came a few minutes short of passing a bill that would ban late-term abortions and hold abortion clinics accountable for violating the health and safety of women.
“Even if they lose at the ballot box and come up short with stalling tactics, they will resort to mob tactics to force their agenda,” he said. He added: “the louder they scream, the more we know that we are getting something done.”
He said what the state witnessed Tuesday was nothing more than the hijacking of the democratic process and told pro-lifers to match their intensity but in a respectful and dignified manner.
The pro-life issue is too important and discussed his call for another special session to pass the 20-week abortion ban, saying, “I am bringing lawmakers back to Austin to finish their business,” he said. “I put pro-life measures at the top of that list.”
Nearly 80,000 unborn children are lost to abortion each year in Texas. “It breaks my heart,” he said. “Abortion is a human rights issue and is a scar on our national conscience.”
“We will ban abortions after 20 weeks. It makes sense because so many children are born prematurely,” the governor added.
Perry also talked about the abortion facility regulations in the bill.
“Any patient should have the expectation that any facilities being used for a medical procedure” should be up to standards, he said. “It is entirely their call” if abortion facilities wold rather close than operate under health and safety laws. We are under no obligation to make things easier for the abortionists. The ideal world is a world without abortion.”
“There are better options than to stop the beating heart of an unborn child,” he said.
Perry noted how pro-abortion legislator Wendy Davis rose from being a daughter of a single mother to go to Harvard and become an elected official. “Just unfortunate she hasn’t learned from her own example,” he said.
The governor said stopping abortion is a “just cause and a way to remember the 55 million who have been robbed of life.”
