Target: Dan Patrick, Lieutenant-Governor of Texas
Goal: Do not support efforts to restrict access to online abortion and reproductive resources.
The continued assaults on reproductive freedom at the state level come at a high cost. Several women are suing the state of Texas after its abortion bans forced them to give birth to infants who either lived for hours or days or were stillborn. Each of these women discovered during their pregnancies that their fetuses had severe medical impairments, and some of these conditions put the lives of the mothers themselves in danger as well. But because they feared going to jail due to the state’s restrictive laws, they endured emotional and physical agony.
Despite the very real damage these politicians are inflicting on their constituents, the attacks just keep on coming. North Carolina became the latest state to restrict abortions to a period when women may not even know they are pregnant. And Idaho, which currently bans abortion at any period during pregnancy, has piled on more draconian measures by threatening anyone who takes a minor to another state for an abortion with years of prison time. Other states, from Missouri to the aforementioned Texas, have attempted to criminalize anyone—regardless of age– traveling out of state for an abortion.
Texas, which has for decades proudly trumpeted itself as a beacon of independence and self-determination, is now launching another war against its own citizens and their rights. This proposed bill would shut down Texans’ access to websites that either provide abortion pills or that simply dispense information about getting an abortion. The state would essentially put itself in reproductive lockdown.
Sign the petition below to demand these supposed freedom-loving lawmakers end their relentless campaign against reproductive freedom.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Lieutenant-Governor Patrick,
Have you ever sat in the hospital with a loved one as they watch their newborn child slowly—and very probably painfully—take their last breaths? Have you ever given a well-wish to someone who, unbeknownst to you, was planning their soon-to-be newborn’s funeral? Have you ever spoken even a single word to the millions of girls and women across the nation who painstakingly make one of the most difficult decisions of their lives? Or have you stepped in and offered to adopt or provide financial assistance for their not-yet-born infant?
The answer to any of these questions is probably the same. Yet your colleagues—elected by and for the people—feel they have the right and authority to intrude on another individual’s or family’s most private affairs. What happened to the state where rugged independence and self-determination were cherished virtues? When exactly did Texas become a reproductive police state?
Your website touts you as an ardent defender of liberty. With the upcoming debate about blocking internet access to sites providing abortion resources and information, you have two choices. You can continue to pursue a proven politically unpopular march toward draconian oblivion, or you can begin to set things right and give your constituents back a modicum of their liberty and their choices. Please do not take another step backward.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Cottonbro Studio
678 Signatures