Trick or Treat Yourself to Some Inequality

"At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over her male colleagues?” 

-Senator Leticia Van de Putte

Late this past Thursday night, while many across the state were celebrating Halloween with frights and fun, three Republican Texas judges did more to horrify Texas women than ghouls or monsters ever could. The three overturned a Federal block on HB 2, the bill that would, through a loop hole, shut down a vast majority of the state’s abortion care facilities. The Texas government needs to listen to its federal counterpart and strike HB 2 from the books. There are hundreds of women in Texas are confused, angered, and in need of medical care. It’s no surprise that even after Wendy Davis’ filibuster drama that the law is continuing to be debated. 

I both understand and respect the argument that is primarily religiously fueled, the argument that wants to protect the grace of life, but being unable to separate personal opinion and natural rights is the precise reason our country “vowed” to “seperate church and state”. I can not comprehend how it is still lawful to ban life choices that are denied by the church on the basis of it being unholy? Are those not the same principles our founding fathers fled England? 

Even ignoring the religious angle, the bill is still wrong. It is unconstitutional and vastly outdated that women are being told what to do with their bodies, yet try to take away a Texans right to gun laws and the government would be overturned. Both the arguments for owning firearms and being able to receive adequate abortion care hinge on a right to privacy, but for some reason state lawmakers care less about caliber a Texan man carries in his truck than they do what a Texas woman carries in her womb. It’s no secret that our society has a double standard when it comes to the sexes and their freedoms, but this is ridiculous.

Texas lawmakers need to respect all Texans’ right to privacy, not just those of Texan men. They need to, for the first time in the state’s existence, treat Texas’ men and women as equals. They need to listen to their female constituents and kill this bill.