Aug
15
Written by:
William Lutz
8/15/2011 10:55 AM
Gov. Rick Perry will join U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) as co-chairs of Americans United for Life's 40th Anniversary Gala. The event is scheduled for Nov. 2 in Washington DC.
Of all the conservative issues out there, Perry's record on pro-life issues is about as rock-solid as it gets. Americans United for Life ranked Texas as the fifth most pro-life state in the nation in a March 2011 report, and that was before the accomplishments of the 2011 Texas Legislative session. The 2011 session of the Texas Legislature produced several key pro-life victories, including the following:
* Passage of a bill requiring offering to show a woman a sonogram of the unborn child before performing an abortion.
* Passage of amendments to the state budget that cut family planning assistance to the state minimum and gave priority for those funds to public entities. These amendments have the effect of making it very difficult for abortion providers to qualify for public funds (which is difficult to do, given the federal mandates involved in Medicaid -- the state-federal healthcare program for the poor).
* Passage of legislation that prohibits local hospital districts from using public funds to pay for abortions (except when the life of the mother is threatened). Central Health in Austin used tax dollars to pay for abortions, prior to the passage of this legislation.
* Passage of a "Choose Life" License Plate Bill