Texas State Senator Labeled as 'Courageous' for Protecting Abortion On Demand

By Kristan Hawkins, CP Op-Ed Contributor Tuesday, July 02, 2013

After her 12 plus hour filibuster of SB5 on the floor of the Texas Senate Tuesday night, State Senator Wendy Davis rose to "stardom," being labeled a hero by Planned Parenthood and the political left and given fawning interviews on cable news shows asking when she plans to run for higher office.

But something important has been left out of the discussion here: what did the "courageous" Wendy Davis protect?

In fact, she fought for abortion -- the "right" to kill a baby in the womb in the 5th month of pregnancy, a baby scientifically proven to feel pain at that stage. With more than 60% of Texans agreeing that abortion should be banned at 20 weeks, the majority clearly does not #StandWithWendy.

And from what exactly did Senator Davis protect Texan women?

Commonsense safety standards

Standards that would require abortion facilities in the state of Texas to have the same medical standards as other surgical facilities and require them to have admitting privileges at local hospitals for when abortions go wrong. Commonsense standards like forcing abortion facilities to have hallways wide enough for a gurney to get through.

Why are these important? Because it is exactly these safety standards that the state of Pennsylvania lacked and ignored, which allowed the butcher Kermit Gosnell to operate for decades. When investigating the death of Gosnell's patient Karnamaya Mongar, the Grand Jury Report found that it took over 20 minutes for emergency personnel to simply get her out of the building because of narrow, cluttered hallways and a padlocked emergency door. Mongar died.

Anyone who has read the 250+ page Kermit Gosnell Grand Jury Report understands why abortion facilities must have safety standards and not be left to their own devices.

Isn't the pro-choice tagline supposed to be "safe, legal, and rare?"

Wendy Davis is not a hero. You can't defend her protection of Kermit Gosnell-like practices and killing babies who can feel pain, which is why you won't hear the truth about what SB5 would have really done.

So before MSNBC offers Davis her own show, President Obama tweets out his support again, and Moveon.org sends any more fundraising emails for her next political campaign, perhaps they should consider who Davis truly protected: the Kermit Gosnells of Texas.

It's up to us to get the word out -- use the hashtag #Stand4Life, especially starting at noon on Tuesday when we are having a Tweetfest. Help us make it trend and tell the media the truth.

Then join us as we send our team and students to Austin the week of July 8th to show Texas and the world that we are the pro-life generation!

Kristan Hawkins is the President of Students for Life of America, the nation's largest pro-life youth organization with over 700 groups nationwide. She is author of the new book, Courageous: Students Abolishing Abortion in this Lifetime.