The saga of Byron Cook’s dismal representation and abuse of power as Chair of the Texas House State Affairs Committee continues.
In his public letter defending late-term abortions on babies who are diagnosed with a disability, Cook claims that the Pro-Life community supported inclusion of so-called fetal abnormality exceptions in the state’s other major Pro-Life legislation, including House Bill 2, the Pro-Life Omnibus Bill, which passed the legislature in 2013. The truth is that Cook demanded such an exception in both the 2011 Sonogram Bill and the 2013 5-month ban in House Bill 2 in order to move these bills out of “his” committee. In fact, as chair of the House Committee on State Affairs, Cook held both measures hostage until an exception was added to each bill to allow the killing of preborn children who may be referred to as “less than perfect.”
With Lord Byron’s gun to their head, Pro-Life leaders begrudgingly crafted the narrowest definition of fetal abnormality possible to save the most preborn children, recognizing that we would have to work for years to remove this sad precedent from state law.
While the Pro-Life community celebrates the passage of Pro-Life laws that protect women and children from abortion, we cannot overlook the loss of children who may or may not be misdiagnosed in utero with a congenital illness or disability. What is worse is that this loophole mandated by Cook was used in a recent court case concerning the unborn child of an unconscious pregnant woman. In referring to her unborn child, whose abnormality was unconfirmed, the attorneys even noted that the legislature did not intend to protect “these children,” as they were excepted from the 5-month ban in HB 2. Lord Byron’s gavel is heavy and sovereign…and deadly for unborn children.
Now is the time to bring light to how our “conservatives” in the Texas House really operate.
The Lives of the most innocent demand nothing less.
Paid for by Texas Right to Life Political Action Committee