Sonogram Bill To Be Toned Down

The state of Texas has some serious problems to address in this session of the legislature, like a $27 billion shortfall in the next biennium and a redistricting fight that is sure to be devisive (even among the majority Republicans, as each legislator fights to retain his own district intact as much as possible). But the governor has decided there are some "emergency" measures that must be taken care of before those serious matters can be dealt with.

Of course, what the governor considers to be an emergency and what a normal person would consider an emergency turns out to be vastly different. For instance, the governor thinks it is an emergency to pass a Voter ID bill -- which would make all voters show a picture ID in addition to their voter registration card before they would be allowed to vote. The measure is supposedly to prevent voter fraud -- even though there is no evidence that voter fraud is a problem in Texas. Everyone knows the real reason is to try and prevent many of the elderly and poor from voting (people more likely to vote for Democrats).

Another emergency the governor has demanded the legislature deal with is the "problem" of sanctuary cities (emergency bills declared by the governor must be dealt with in the first 60 days of the legislative session). Of course, nobody really knows if Texas even has any so-called "sanctuary cities" (or even what comprises a sanctuary city). This is just the governor playing to his xenophobic right-wing base.

But perhaps the most heartless bill declared to be an emergency by the governor is the sonogram bill. The U.S. Supreme Court has guaranteed women the right to choice regarding their own bodies, but the governor wants to put up as many roadblocks to that choice as possible. Acting on the governor's emergency declaration, State Senator Dan Patrick (R-Houston) introduced a bill that would make doctors perform a sonogram on any woman wanting a legal abortion (which you can bet the state will not pay for even though they mandate it).

Patrick (pictured above) made the bill a very intrusive one, demanding the doctor display the sonogram to the woman, describe what is on the screen to her, and play an audible version of a fetal heartbeat. It goes without saying that this is nothing more than an effort to punish and torture any woman who has the temerity to make her own decision about abortion. It is also insulting, as it assumes the woman hasn't thought long and hard about the decision she has made. It's just a bad and very mean-spirited bill.

Evidently someone finally told Patrick that Oklahoma tried the same kind of law and had it declared unconstitutional, because he has announced he is making changes to the bill. His new bill would give the woman the right to avoid seeing the sonogram, hearing the description and hearing the heartbeat. That is an improvement. It's still a bad and stupid bill (and a prime example of men wanting to deny women the right to control over their own bodies), but it's not quite as bad as the original.

I expect the bill will pass the legislature (which is controlled by Republicans). If there's one thing that white Republican men like even more than freedom, it's their own right to control the lives of other people.