As Texas’ “trigger law” banning nearly all abortions took effect, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke was airing his first two general election TV ads slamming Gov. Greg Abbott over abortion rights.
The “trigger law” went into effect Thursday just two months after the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. It bans abortion with no exception for rape or incest and with only limited medical exceptions.
O’Rourke’s campaign said it was airing the ads during Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys preseason games on Thursday and Friday nights.
One of the ads features multiple women telling viewers:
“From this day forward, Aug. 25, women all across Texas are no longer free to make decisions about our own body, no longer free to choose if a pregnancy is right for us or our families, not even in cases of rape or incest. And women will die because of it — all because of Greg Abbott’s abortion law. It’s too extreme so I’m voting for Beto who will give women our freedom back.”
The second TV spot draws on polling that shows most registered voters in Texas oppose a complete ban on abortion.
According to a June poll conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, only 13 percent of Texans said pregnant people should not be able to obtain abortions in case of rape, and only 11 percent supported banning abortions in cases of incest.
The second TV ad features a wife — a “lifelong Democrat” and her husband — a “lifelong Republican” agreeing that Abbott’s abortion law is too extreme.
The wife, Amy Ramsey, says, “Greg Abbott signed the most extreme abortion ban in the United States.”
Then her husband, Trey Ramsey, says, No exception for rape. No exception for incest? A $100,000 fines and jail fine for doctors.
Amy Ramsey: “Only 11 percent of Texans agree with him.”
Trey Ramsey; ”I mean this is a free country. We need a governor who gets that, and that’s Beto.”
O’Rourke also marked the implementation of the “trigger law” with a news conference Thursday morning at a Houston clinic that previously provided abortions. He was joined by medical professionals and women who shared their stories about how they had been impacted by the state’s abortion restrictions.
A year ago, Texas enacted a bill that bans abortion after the detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac activity, which normally occurs after about six weeks of pregnancy. The so-called “vigilante” bill relied solely on enforcing the ban by private individuals through civil lawsuits, rather than having state officials enforce the law.
The Texas Tribune reported that the “trigger law” criminalizes performing an abortion from the moment of fertilization unless the pregnant patient is facing “a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy.” The statute specifically prohibits prosecuting a pregnant patient who undergoes an abortion.
But medical providers who perform an abortion are at great risk. The Texas Tribune wrote:
“Violations of the law are punishable by up to life in prison. The law also says that the attorney general `shall` seek a civil penalty of not less than $100,000, plus attorney’s fees.”
At the news conference, O’Rourke slammed Abbott for supporting the “trigger law,” according to a report by Houston Public Media.
“Reproductive health care is under attack in this state more than it is anywhere else in this country, probably anywhere else in the developed world,” O’Rourke said. “There’s one person who is responsible for that, and that is Governor Greg Abbott.”
Elizabeth Weller, a graduate student, said her water broke 18 weeks into her pregnancy, and whe was told that her baby would die as soon as it was birthed — regardless of whether or not the baby was carried to term. She said the hospital sent her home because she “was not sick enough at the time.”
Houston Public Media quoted her as saying:
“I was lucky enough to have an ethics committee to rule in my favor within the four days, but other women will not have that luxury,” Weller said. “Other women are going to be put in a position, in a situation, where they will most likely die. This is the future for many women.”
Dr. Lee Bar-Eli, a Harris County family physician who joined O’Rourke at the news conference, said the law has hindered and confused healthcare providers across Texas.
“Are we going to let politicians with no healthcare experience make those decisions for us?,” she said, according to the Houston Public Media report. “I can’t believe that after everything we’ve gone through, we’re now being told how to practice medicine.”
Here is a video of the news conference: