Abortion

Rick Perry: “Make Abortion at Any Stage a Thing of the Past”

Like all anti-abortion politicians, the claim of "fetal pain" is really an excuse to end abortion all together.

Gov. Rick Perry addresses a news conference at The Source for Women in Houston on Tuesday, 12/11. Photo: AP.

Reminding all of us that he is considering another presidential run, Texas Governor Rick Perry announced his support for a plan to ban abortions after 20 weeks, a point at which he falsely claims fetuses can feel pain. But like lawmakers in Nebraska, Arizona, and elsewhere, he is clear that though the allegations of pain is the cover story, the real goal is just to ban abortions any way he can.

Via ABC News:

Perry said he would like “to make abortion at any stage a thing of the past,” but since that isn’t possible under federal law, the Legislature has an “obligation to end that kind of cruelty” when an unborn child can feel pain.

“We cannot and we will not sit idly by as we put our unborn through the agony” of ending their lives, Perry told a crowd of anti-abortion activists in Houston, where he announced his support for the bills.

Backed by the crowd’s occasional “Amens” and other praise, Perry vowed lawmakers would make every day of the 140-day session count when it comes to protecting life.

General medical consensus from objective medical sources is that a fetus is not capable of feeling pain at 20 weeks. A Texas 20-week ban if legally challenged would be highly likely to be upheld as constitutional due to hyper-conservative makeup of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.