GRAPEVINE — Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst vowed Saturday to resurrect a tough-anti abortion proposal and shepherd it through the Republican-controlled Legislature, amid criticism that he botched the effort and tried to run over dissenters to the bill at the chaotic end of the special legislative session last week.
This time, time is on his side.
Gov. Rick Perry has called another 30-day session for Monday, asking lawmakers to consider the bill to ban abortions after a pregnancy reaches 20 weeks and tighten regulations on clinics and doctors.
The bill was defeated Tuesday, the last day of Perry’s first special session, when Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, staged a dramatic filibuster that electrified those who jammed the Senate gallery and the Capitol grounds.
Democrats vow to continue to fight, but they’ll need different tactics, as Dewhurst vowed to move quickly enough to prevent a filibuster.
“We’re not going to get it back from the House within filibuster range,” Dewhurst said after speaking to the National Right to Life convention in Grapevine. “We’re going to make sure that we’ve got plenty of time, and no human being can talk for two weeks.”
Davis acknowledged this week that the bill would probably pass but pledged to “fight with every fiber that we have.”
Dewhurst’s speech Saturday was his first major appearance since Tuesday’s meltdown, resulting in criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.
But the lieutenant governor said he was not to blame for the Davis filibuster, or for the raucous protests that he has likened to an unruly mob.
“We’re not exactly in a polite conversation with our opponents who don’t believe in the sanctity of life,” Dewhurst told delegates at the convention. “Instead we’re in the midst of an epic struggle for the very future of this state, this nation and our civilization.”
Dewhurst promised to pass the controversial bill, comfortable that lawmakers would be able to take it up early in the session. Last week, the final Senate vote was pushed to the last hours of the session, allowing Davis and the Democrats to run out the clock.
“I am not discouraged,” Dewhurst said. “We will pass this bill out of the Legislature.”
Dewhurst encouraged the anti-abortion advocates to get more involved.
“Just four short days ago thousands of abortion advocates were whipped into a frenzy by the International Socialist Organization, the Occupy movement, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU to disrupt our legislative session,” Dewhurst said. “People of good conscience should be deeply concerned that our opponents are willing to undermine our democracy to protect something they cherish — the ability to terminate a pregnancy anytime and any place.”
Dewhurst said afterward that a Senate committee would hold hearings on the bill, which he said would pass “using the time honored rules of the Texas Senate.”
And unlike Perry — who said Thursday that Davis should learn from her “own example” to value life, given that she was born to a single mother — Dewhurst didn’t have harsh words for his Senate colleague.
“People that believe strongly in principles, we must respect them as long as they follow the law,” he said.
Follow Gromer Jeffers Jr. on Twitter at @gromerjeffers.
Update: Dewhurst vs. Patrick
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst scoffed Saturday at a Republican primary challenge from Sen. Dan Patrick, expressing confidence that his record would carry the day in an increasingly crowded field.
Asked if he was concerned about Patrick, a staunch conservative from Houston, Dewhurst said: “Are you kidding? No. I’m delighted. We have a great record.”
Patrick announced his bid for lieutenant governor last week, calling himself the “authentic conservative” and criticizing Dewhurst for the botched effort to pass an anti-abortion measure.
Dewhurst, in his first response to Patrick, touted his three terms in the office and called himself “the only traditional businessperson elected statewide.”
Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples also plan to run in the GOP primary, scheduled for March. No major Democratic candidates have emerged.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: 'You Say What You Like, Because They Like What You Say' - http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/alerts-2013/731-you-say-what-you-like-because-they-like-what-you-say.html
http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHJbrUDPmysIdnp5LX5mjTdBDHSlg&url=http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20130629-lt.-gov.-david-dewhurst-vows-to-push-through-abortion-bill-derailed-by-wendy-davis-filibuster.ece
0 comments:
Post a Comment