AG Candidate Dan Branch Joined House Democrats Seeking to Expand 3rd Trimester Abortions

the following article is by Bob Price posted at Texas GOP Vote:

In the wake of yesterday's court ruling blocking Texas from implementing portions of its newly passed pro-life law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their abortion facility, it becomes even more clear why we must have a Texas Attorney General who is as solidly pro-life as our current AG, Greg Abbott. After a little research into the records of the candidates to succeed Abbott, it is apparent one candidate does not fill those shoes - Dan Branch.

During the 79th Legislature (2005) SB 419 was introduced to continue functions of some medical boards in Texas. During the debate on this bill in the House, Representative Dan Branch authored an amendment to allow and expand 3rd trimester abortions.

Texas law restricts these late term abortions to cases where the baby has irreversible brain damage. Branch's amendment sought to expand this to irreversible damage to a "vital organ". After Branch argued in support of his amendment, the House voted to table it. Branch joined with House Democrats to vote "Nay" on the motion to table.

Democrats will continue to use the courts to overturn advances made to protect life by Republicans in the Texas Legislature. We must have an Attorney General whose commitment to pro-life issues is unquestionable. After yesterday's court ruling, General Abbott filed an emergency appeal to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Branch's record raises concern about whether he would have filed a similar appeal.

General Abbott's spokeswoman, Lauren Bean, issued a statement yesterday on behalf of the Attorney General. “The court upheld part of the law and enjoined part of the law. The State has already appealed the court’s ruling. We appreciate the trial court’s attention in this matter. As everyone – including the trial court judge – has acknowledged, this is a matter that will ultimately be resolved by the appellate courts or the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman, a candidate for Texas Attorney General, reaffirmed his committment to pro-life issues in a statement yesterday.“I am disappointed by Judge Yeakel’s ruling," Smitherman stated, "but I applaud General Abbott’s decision to seek an emergency appeal. As Attorney General, I will vigorously defend Pro-Life laws in the state of Texas. Judge Yeakel’s inappropriate refusal to acknowledge that the statute was rationally related to preserving the life of unborn children and protecting women’s health will hopefully be corrected upon appellate review.”

Perhaps this attempt by Branch to expand abortion rights in Texas was behind Texas Right to Life's omission of Dan Branch in their recent endorsements of Barry Smitherman and Ken Paxton. His being left off that list was a clear statement by this leading pro-life group.

If you are a pro-life voter in the 2014 Republican Primary, I think it is safe to say you can take Dan Branch off your list for consideration. Texas needs a solidly pro-life Attorney General and Dan Branch doesn't cut it.

- See more at: http://www.texasgopvote.com/regions/texas/ag-candidate-dan-branch-joined-house-democrats-seeking-expand-3rd-trimester-006014#sthash.9vrxHPvc.dpuf

Polls Show Public STRONGLY Favors Abortion Bans, Oppose Wendy Davis - Media Silent

the media went goo goo ga ga over Democrat Wendy Davis stalling a Texas bill that will ban abortions after 20 weeks. the acted like Texas is crazy and the people of America are against abortion restriction. WRONG! The truth is that the majority of Americans STRONGLY favor restrictions on abortions after the first trimester. Most other countries already ban abortions after even just 10 weeks.

WHERE IS THE MEDIA? WHY ARE THEY NOT REPORTING THAT PEOPLE WANT TO BAN KILLING BABIES AFTER THEY BEGIN TO DEVELOP?


the following article is from Real Clear Politics: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/06/30/the_public_doesnt_support_wendy_davis_position.html

The Public Doesn't Support Wendy Davis' Position

By Ben Domenech - June 30, 2013

Obviously the overall story about how Americans view the right to marriage is one of ever increasing majorities. From just a few years ago, when Americans were split on the issue at best, they now have marked majorities in favor of same sex marriage – 71% according to some polls, 86% according to others. The argument has been won, and cultural unanimity is virtually complete.

Oh, my mistake. It’s actually around half of Americans who favor gay marriage. Those figures above are for the percentage of Americans who support banning abortion after the first trimester (13 weeks), and after the second trimester (28 weeks), respectively.

 

But that can’t be possible. Because if that was the case, wouldn’t we have heard about it, from the newspapers? Maybe they just haven’t gotten around to reporting it – a blind spot missed amidst all the other pressing news. Except – it looks like Americans have thought this for almost two decades. The percent supporting a second trimester ban has never dropped below 64 percent, and the percent supporting a third trimester ban has never dropped below 80 percent in that time. These positions are true elsewhere, too – once a baby starts looking like a baby, people tend to think it ought to be protected. That’s why most of Europe has bans on abortion ranging from 10 to 22 weeks, and the major countries have first trimester bans – Portugal at 10 weeks, Germany and Spain at 14 weeks, Italy at effectively the end of the first trimester. France is at 14 weeks as well, and they even mandate a one-week waiting period for all abortions. Most of these countries also have conscientious objection clauses designed to protect those doctors with moral objections to abortion.

On such a divisive issue, you’d think the fact that this broadly popular position has endured in America and around the world to such a degree would inform the political analysis of the media. But last night we saw how personally invested many in the media are in the limitless, on-demand abortion regime in their obvious cheerleading for Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, who was filibustering a Texas measure that would limit abortion to the 20 week mark and require a host of regulatory steps which would shut down most Texas abortion clinics. Most egregious of all was the point in the evening when reporters were actually urging protesters on, encouraging them to scream and shout to delay a floor vote on the measure. This went well beyond the bounds of journalism – and indeed was indistinguishable from the single-issue abortion activists. 

It was indistinguishable because the press is, by and large, unanimous on the issue. We saw this in the disinterested approach to reporting on the Kermit Gosnell trial (until pressured into it by Mollie Hemingway and Kristen Powers). Those who write about abortion as a political issue are only interested in reporting about abortion politics when they view it as an opportunity to press its agenda. You will see a great deal of reporting in the coming weeks about Davis’s rising political star – she’s ambitious, with statewide hopes – because the reporters view her as the activists do: a heroic, courageous figure, assaulted by the GOP’s war on women. But you’ll likely see little reporting about the fact that 62 percent of Texans support the 20 week ban she was filibustering. The agenda takes precedence. They know that fighting this bill now is better than fighting it before the Supreme Court.

Twenty weeks is, of course, an arbitrary mark to draw a line between protected under law and lump of cells. The general argument from the pro-lifers is that it is a point where the unborn obviously feel pain. Viability is a threshold that continues to move earlier thanks to medical science, and indeed some children born at 20 weeks have survived. But there’s something else that happens at around the 20 week mark: the unborn can distinguish sounds. The first sound they will hear is the voice of their mother. In the weeks to come it will be a soothing and recognizable sound, distinguishable from all the rest. They will respond to it and react to it, to changes in volume and conversation. Much later, they will even be able to recognize tones of voice. But at the twenty week mark, there is only the formless sound. The child cannot understand what she is saying. They cannot detect the difference in tenor when she makes the call, and schedules the appointment, and takes them from the waiting room into the operating room where they will die. They only recognize it as a mother’s voice, full of promise, enveloping them – familiar, reassuring, safe. 

Benjamin Domenech is editor of The Transom. Click here to subscribe.

Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/06/30/the_public_doesnt_support_wendy_davis_position.html#ixzz2YL7flnR6
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Sen. Ted Cruz: Investigate Abortionists in U.S. including Houston TX Doc Accused of Killing Babies AFTER Birth

Another Kermit Gosnell? Another Abortionist accused of killing late term and born alive babies?

Unfortunately, it is true and it happens more than people think. Finally these murders are being uncovered. A Texas Abortion Doctor, Douglas Karpen, is Accused of Murdering Babies AFTER Birth. He sometimes even Twisted their Heads Off. An investigation by Operation Rescue has found several witnesses who even have PICTURE EVIDENCE of the gruesome murders of near full term babies born alive at a Houston, TX abortion clinic. Read more about the murder allegations against this Houston, TX abortionist including pictures and video here: http://www.texasconservativerepublicannews.com/2013/05/another-gosnell-texas-abortion-doctor.html

Today, Senator Ted Cruz (Texas-R) has spoken out on the Senate floor in favor of an investigation into abortion clinics in the U.S., including the abortionist in Houston, TX. Senator Ted Cruz was speaking in favor of a resolution proposed by fellow Senator Mike Lee (Utah-R)

below is a statement from Senator Ted Cruz in support of investigating abortion clinics:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE News Release May 16, 2013

Contact: Sean Rushton or Catherine Frazier (202) 224-5922 press@cruz.senate.gov

Sen. Cruz Supports Investigation of Abortion Practices in U.S.

Urges investigation into Houston facility allegedly engaged in Gosnell-like practices

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) today spoke on the Senate floor in support of Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) resolution to investigate abortion practices in the U.S. and ensure that clinics like Kermit Gosnell’s have no place in our society. He also brought attention to an abortion facility in Houston that has recently come under scrutiny for alleged late-term abortion and infanticide practices, voicing his support of current state and local investigations into the matter.
“The crimes committed by Kermit Gosnell are almost unspeakable. Knowing what we know now about what happened, everyone in this body should be supporting an investigation to make sure there are not other Kermit Gosnell’s across this country. We need to make sure it is not happening to other unsuspecting mothers, that other newborn babies are not being murdered as they were in Dr. Gosnell’s clinic.
“Everyone who proclaims to be a champion for women and children should enthusiastically support this resolution. Anyone who proclaims himself a champion dedicated to helping the most vulnerable should be supporting this resolution. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, in 2011 performed 333,964 abortions in the U.S. Almost half of its income comes from the taxpayer, and this body has an obligation to make sure there are not other Gosnell houses of horror practicing today.”
Sen. Lee’s resolution provides that Congress and States should gather information about and correct abusive, unsanitary, and illegal abortion practices and the interstate referral of women and girls to facilities engaged in dangerous or illegal second- and third-trimester procedures.
To view the senator’s full speech, please visit: http://www.cruz.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=342806

###

View this release online

Another Gosnell? Texas Abortion Doctor Accused of Murdering Babies AFTER Birth - Twisted Heads Off

Sometimes he would kill the babies by “twisting the head off the neck,”


from The Blaze: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/15/texas-may-have-its-own-gosnell-houston-doc-accused-of-gruesome-illegal-abortions/


TEXAS MAY HAVE ITS OWN GOSNELL: HOUSTON DOC ACCUSED OF GRUESOME ILLEGAL ABORTIONS

Although Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist found guilty this week of three counts of first-degree murder, has been successfully removed from civil society, another abortion practitioner like him may be on the loose in Houston, Texas.

“Harris County authorities and the Texas Department of State Health Services are investigating a local doctor accused Wednesday by an anti-abortion group of performing late-term abortions in 2011,” the Houston Chronicle reports.

The abortionist, Douglas Karpen, has been accused by three former staffers, Deborah Edge, Gigi Aguliar, and Krystal Rodriguez, of performing several illegal abortions. Their testimony, and alleged photographic evidence, was brought to light by Operation Rescue, a pro-life watchdog.

There’s a fourth informant working with Operation Rescue, filing an affidavit about her experiences, but she prefers to remain anonymous.

“We have several people looking into the allegations,” said Sara Marie Kinney, a spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

DSHS spokeswoman Carrie Williams said in an email that the agency, which monitors Texas abortion facilities, is “aware of the allegations, and we are investigating.”

“This is a very high priority for us,” she said.

DSHS became aware of the allegations after Operation Rescue released a report containing the staffers’ testimony and photos. The cellphone photos the staffers provided the pro-life group with seem to back up their gruesome claims.

“The photos show babies that are huge, with gashes in their necks, indicating that these babies were likely born alive, then killed, just as Kermit Gosnell did at his ‘House of Horrors’ clinic in Philadelphia,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

“In fact, there are numerous similarities between Karpen and the Gosnell case, including the disregarding of complaints by the authorities that allowed both men to continue their illegal operations,” he added.

The photos are extremely gruesome, entirely sickening, and graphic.  If you have the stomach for it, LifeSiteNews.com has copies of them here. But be warned.

Here’s a reported video of Karpen’s former staffers:

from Life News: www.lifenews.com/2013/05/15/another-gosnell-report-shows-texas-abortion-doc-kills-babies-born-alive/

Another Gosnell: Report Shows Texas Abortion Doc Kills Babies Born Alive

After the conviction of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell on murder charges, Operation Rescue has been repeatedly asked if there is any evidence that similar practices exist at abortion clinics elsewhere in the nation. That documentation has now been released.

Operation Rescue arranged to have Life Dynamics, Inc. produce a video interview, released yesterday, with three informants who came to Operation Rescue as the result of our Abortion Whistleblowers Program, which offers a reward of $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of abortionists who are breaking the law.

The three informants, Deborah Edge, Gigi Aguliar, and Krystal Rodriguez, have come forward to tell of their horrific experiences working for abortionist Douglas Karpen, at one of three of his Texas abortion clinics, the Aaron Women’s Clinic in Houston. A fourth informant has co-operated with Operation Rescue, filing an affidavit about her experiences, but remains at this time anonymous.

As shocking as their stories are, these women did more than just talk; they brought forward evidence of illegal late-term abortions in the form of photos taken on their cell phones at the Karpen’s clinic on Schumacher Lane in Houston.

The photos were scandalous. They depicted two babies aborted well beyond the legal limit of 24 weeks in Texas. Their necks had been cut.

2012 Democrat Platform is HORRIBLE - God Booed, Obama 200 times, Partial Birth Abortions Paid by Taxes

Read the Full 2012 Democrat Party Platform here: http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform?source=DNC_TW


The Democrats took God and Support for Israel out of their platform but then after they got some bad press they added them back in. Even the vote to add God back in to the platform was a divided vote with half of the Democrat crowd yelling NO. Does this represent America? NO!

The Democratic Platform was in favor of late term (9th month!) and partial birth abortions funded by our tax dollars.

Even just as disturbing is that the 2012 Democrat Platform mentions Obama by name over 200 times! A Party Platform is not supposed to be about a person or in support of a person. A Party Platform is supposed to be a set of values and beliefs. The people of a party are people who prescribe to the party platform. It is not the other way around. The party should not build itself around a candidate! The party should be built around a set of beliefs! Well, that is what the Democrats have done. They have no beliefs or values, they just believe whatever Obama says and does. They have built their platform around him. In contrast, the Republicans only mentioned Mitt Romney once in the Republican Platform and that was only in the Introduction and the the platform itself!


Watch this Allen West Campaign YouTube Video: Three times they said no to God

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNQuT2worqc&feature=youtu.be





Here is what Liberty Institute had to say about the Removal of God Controversy at the DNC 2012:

Wednesday, delegates of the Democratic National Convention voted to add the mention of God back into the party platform, but not everyone in the Charlotte arena was happy about the announcement as many booed and shook their fists.

The party received criticism the day before for removing God from the platform, which was included in 2008. They also eliminated the mention of Jerusalem, but that was added back in with Wednesday’s vote as well.

The elimination of God from the Democratic Party platform appears to be consistent with the current administration that has been working very hard to remove God from the public arena altogether. Although the mention of God was voted back in, it is disappointing that the delegates were so divided on the issue and that the announcement evoked such a negative reaction from the crowd. It is the harsh reality of where we are headed as a nation, and a very real example of the growing hostility to religious freedom.