Republicans are seeing “Orange” – The “Other” Davis

Many thought the rancorous debate over abortion had quieted down as the next special session presents new opportunities for disagreement on transportation projects.

Not so, says State Rep. Sarah Davis (R-Houston). Republican leadership is engaged in a full-on feud with State Representative Sarah Davis for her break with the party on new regulations of the abortion industry signed into law by Gov. Perry after a month of debate. Even after the bill in question became law, State Rep. Davis is still ruffling feathers in the Harris County GOP – writing editorials claiming that “Government has no business” regulating the abortion industry.

As Davis wrote in an editorial with the Houston Chronicle, “Personal freedom and limited government are the foundation of my political philosophy. I believe the proper role of government is to provide only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations and that the best government is that which governs least.”

Some are challenging Davis that the right to life is a “critical function” and one of the “limited” duties of government. In point of fact, the only legitimate purpose of government recognized in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, is to protect the life and liberty of U.S. Citizens:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” (emphasis added).

The U.S. Constitution echoes this principle, as the Fifth Amendment provides that, “No person shall be...deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law....”

Davis appears to embrace the notion that “choice” and “women's health” are the real issues under discussion in Texas. Davis claims that the new law “could harm thousands of women seeking health care....”

HB 2, signed into law only weeks ago, requires hygienic improvements to abortion clinics and caps abortions at twenty weeks, which medical science reveals is when fetuses can feel pain and is when the majority of abortions take place. Predictions of widespread closures of abortion clinics, also touted by Davis, have been the focus of many voices who oppose the new regulations. But if Planned Parenthood is to be believed, the required changes should have very little impact.

Planned Parenthood has repeatedly claimed that a small percentage of its revenues come from abortions, and even smaller for late term abortions, at 0.045 percent. Independent forensic analysis places revenue from abortions much higher than public claims of Planned Parenthood – at between 37 and 50 percent. After government grants are removed, Planned Parenthood reported in excess of $600 million in revenue to its affiliates in 2008-09.

Planned Parenthood's own cost breakdown by procedure puts late term abortions at $900, in contrast to regular induced abortion, which runs a patient between $350 and $500. Planned Parenthood performed 332,278 abortions in 2009.

Harris County GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill disagrees that the new legislation is a “choice” issue and says instead that Republican Sarah Davis and Democrats care about protecting the abortion industry – not women.

Said Woodfill, “If this were truly about 'choice,' Democrats would be falling over themselves to reverse the abortion funding mandate that is putting Hobby Lobby – a Texas staple – out of business. This is about protecting the profit margin of an industry that finances the political careers of many Democrat, and apparently some Republican, officer-holders. Democrats see green in this debate, not orange. Did anyone ever think to mention that abortions after twenty weeks are the most profitable procedures for Planned Parenthood? A regular procedure costs approximately $300, while a late term abortion costs anywhere from $900 to in excess of $1,000. The numbers do not lie.”

This is not a complex issue: Republicans do not have designs to kill abortion clinics. Ironically, Democrats do not have a problem killing private medical practices and hospitals – the consequence of ObamaCare's outrageous requirements. Republicans simply want abortion clinics to be as clean and safe as any traditional healthcare facility.

Why are we unable to have that conversation?

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