Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Texas Rep. John Smithee on HB-2, Rep. Jessica Farrar on hypocrisy

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Once again, the abortion debate in the Texas House shows us a clear contrast between Democrats and Republicans. On the one hand, you have Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, give a thoughtful, reflective speech on abortion and the bill that the House was considering, HB-2. On the other hand, you have Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, reinforcing the hypocrisy that has come to define both her and Texas Democrats.

The headline from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal caught my attention this morning: Smithee speech on abortion bill may have swayed votes.

Every now and then a state legislator makes a speech that defines his or her session.

For Rep. John Smithee, it was Tuesday night when emotions were running high on the abortion issue in the Republican-dominated Texas House of Representatives.

Smithee, R-Amarillo, who seldom speaks long on the House floor, gave a heartfelt speech to explain why he thinks abortion is wrong and the Legislature should pass House Bill 2, which would outlaw aborting pregnancies of 20 weeks or longer.

“By 12 or 13 weeks that baby, that little girl or boy, has developed fingernails, can suck its thumb and can be coiled,” Smithee began, explaining how a child in the mother’s womb rapidly develops each week during the nine-month pregnancy.

“By 20 weeks — and that’s what we are talking about in this bill — that baby is 8 to 10 inches long, and that’s what makes this procedure so difficult,” he said.

“It is not unusual to see the legs come out, the arms come out,” Smithee said. “I don’t want to talk about it, I am not enjoying this discussion and I know you don’t either, but what we are talking about in this bill is what we are here for: this piece of little baby, flesh by flesh.

“It is one of the most barbaric, brutal and painful exercises that one man puts on another,” he added. “We would never do that to another human being. We wouldn’t that to a terrorist.

“What has led us to this point where we have human-on-human violence, the most barbaric? This is what this about: How can we defend this practice?”

It is rare indeed for a floor speech to impact a vote in the Texas Legislature. So rare that I searched the archives, found the speech, and captured it so that we could all watch it. If you wish to watch it from the archives, go to the 10 hour, 6 minute mark.

It is an effective speech but the power to change votes comes not from what is said, but from who is saying it and how he says it. The who being a long time representative that has tremendous respect from his colleagues.  The how being that he doesn’t grandstand and bring out props to garner attention – he simply speaks from the heart about what he learned from testimony given during the hearings about the bill.

On the other hand, you have Rep. Farrar, whose latest foray into pushing late term abortions was arguing with an OB/GYN doctor who didn’t think fetuses with non-lethal conditions should be aborted after 20 weeks.  Rep. Farrar has a long history of supporting late term and partial birth abortions. If you’ll recall, she was also the host of the ghastly Christmas Holiday Party held at one of the largest abortion clinics in the world.  She is quoted in the Smithee article:

However, opponents of the bill said though they don’t doubt Smithee’s sincerity, legislators must consider bills based on facts and merits, not on emotions.

“When he made the description of how the fetus is dismembered, he became quite emotional,” said Rep. Jessica Farrar, a leading opponent of HB2. “We shouldn’t be making laws based on emotional arguments.”

How do you even respond to that? Farrar and the Democrats have used nothing but emotional arguments this entire process! Taking coat hangers onto the floor of the House. Falsely claiming that the bills close clinics. Falsely accusing Republicans of not caring about “born” children.  Inciting a near riot on the floor of the Texas Senate:

Rep. Jessica Farrar inciting a riot in the Texas Senate chamber.
Rep. Jessica Farrar inciting a riot in the Texas Senate chamber.

Complete, utter, and total hypocrisy on the part of Jessica Farrar. If you choose to watch Farrar’s speech after Smithee’s, go to the 10 hour, 25 minute mark. Nothing but emotional falsehoods.

The good news about this argument is that it exposes Texas Democrats for what they really are and what they really believe. They don’t care about children, women, or anything but power. Power so that they can fundamentally undermine Texas and the United States.

For all you professionals decrying this legislation and saying that it will be the death of the Republican Party in Texas, you wait and see.

And for Bill King, the “conservative” columnist in the Houston Chronicle, you need to step out of the country club, stop listening to your peers whining about “those” Republicans, and consider that without “those” Republicans, your country club Republicans wouldn’t have won an election in the last twenty years. Take that and stuff it in your cigar.

Will Houston's version of Kermit Gosnell be investigated and charged?

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As shocking as the photos and stories from ex-employees are in this report from Operation Rescue, I can’t say that I’m surprised:

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.

“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 Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “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.”

Signs of life

In both cases, the babies’ skin is pink, noting a lack of masceration, an early form of decomposition that happens in babies that die in the womb. Massive bruising on the extremities of one of the babies indicates the baby’s heart was pulsing with life when the trauma was inflicted likely when grasping instruments latched on to bring the baby down into the birth canal. The eyes of the other child are open in a nightmarish expression of pain, revealing development greater than 26-28 weeks. Both sets of photos were taken sometime in 2011.

If you are squeamish or sensitive to this issue, you probably need to heed their warnings and not view the photos.

I say that I’m not surprised because there is much evil in this world. Remember, here in Houston, we have a Democratic State Representative, Jessica Farrar, that loves abortion so much that she and other Democratic women in Houston hosts a Christmas Holiday Party in the same building where babies are chopped up and killed. Ghastly tradition and ghastly people.

I spoke with Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue this afternoon and received good news. Someone from Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson’s office finally contacted him this morning, after this article was published and hundreds of people called Anderson’s office. It’s a damn shame that the District Attorney wouldn’t pick up the phone and call Mr. Newman himself or that he refused to acknowledge Mr. Newman’s repeated requests for help, responding only when pressure was applied. Maybe all the Democratic women that he hired to run that building just aren’t interested.

What is just as troubling is that no one from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office has called at all. We all know that Gen. Abbott is pro-life, so why on earth would he ignore something this bad, this ugly, this brutal? I hope Gen. Abbott does the right thing and pick up the phone and call Mr. Newman. He should also offer District Attorney Anderson all the resources at his disposal to put this “doctor” where he belongs.

And if anyone out there ever wondered why people like Kyleen Wright of Texans for Life or Joe Pojman of Texas Alliance for Life pour their hearts and souls into this issue, this is why.