The Texas Federation of Republican Women (TFRW) presented the “Kay Bailey Hutchison Leadership Award” to the openly pro-abortion Republican Sarah Davis (R-West University Place), praising her role as a “trailblazer” at their October biennial conference.
Davis is known for her brazen support for unrestricted abortion, and is the first Republican woman in Texas embraced and endorsed by Planned Parenthood. For years, Davis fought Pro-Life protections for the preborn, even opposing restrictions on late-term abortions.
Davis is certainly blazing a trail, but one that leads only to a culture of death. In fact, if this is the kind of leadership that TFRW wants to reward, they should remove the “R” from their name immediately.
What is the purpose of an organization like TFRW, if not to advance both women and Republican Party principles? On TFRW’s website, they say, “TFRW holds fast to the underlying principles of the Republican Party.” The sanctity of Life, from conception to natural death, is not just one of the many planks in the Republican Party of Texas platform, but the second guiding principle of the party!
Sarah Davis pretends her support for abortion is part of her advocacy for women’s health policy, but there is nothing pro-woman about embracing the death of millions of unborn children! There is plenty of room in the Republican Party and the Texas Legislature for representatives who want to help women and stand for Life.
For instance, Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) is a shining example of a legislator who has fiercely fought for policies that protect and serve women, while passionately advocating legislation to defend the preborn.
Davis may be radically pro-abortion, but Texans would hope Davis would at least fight to save the lives of the sick and disabled in hospitals, especially since this is also a value of the Republican Party of Texas (Plank 264). Even many pro-abortion groups have supported protecting vulnerable patients in Texas hospitals.
But even patients cannot count on Sarah Davis’ “leadership.” She has consistently voted against basic patient protections, even when such measures are supported by a broad bipartisan base. This includes policies to ensure patients and their families have the final say in issuing Do-Not-Resuscitate orders, as well as measures to add patient safeguards in the process which currently allows hospitals to override a patient’s request for life-sustaining treatment.
Does Sarah Davis hold any Pro-Life principles?
By presenting a trailblazer award to Davis, TFRW has chosen to abandon not only the guiding principles of their party, but also the thousands of women who are members. The very nature of a “trailblazer” award indicates their hope to reward more of this type of trailblazing in the future.
Dr. Johnnie Seago, President of the TFRW Chapter Liberty Belles Republican Women Club, said, “I’m outraged and betrayed at TFRW’s decision to give this award to Sarah Davis. This decision does not reflect me, the members of my club, or the majority of Texas women in our party.”
Dr. Seago is absolutely right. This award is a complete betrayal of TFRW’s supposed affiliation with the Republican Party. If they continue standing against Life, the party should officially sever the connection. Perhaps then the group could be free to continue down this road and present their next award to an abortion trailblazer with the same last name: Wendy Davis.
After all, they’re not so different.