Add Planned Parenthood’s organ trafficking scandal to the long list of egregious violations of the Right to Life about which we have heard nothing but crickets from Texas’ most prominent RINOs (Republicans-in-name-only). Not even a desire to save face in anticipation of reelection cycles by rising to the Republican status quo is enough to entice anti-Life moderates to lend a voice to those who have none. After their abysmal performance during this year’s 84th Legislative Session, though, we hardly expected an about-face from the lip service caucus.
Texas was one of only two states (along with Louisiana) to take Governor-led action against the organization that has admitted to engaging in tandem felonies on a regular basis: receiving illegitimate compensation in exchange for fetal body parts, and violating several federal laws, including committing Partial-Birth Abortions that have been federally banned for more than a decade, to procure those body parts intact. In the wake of three Texas abortion businesses being specifically mentioned in the expose video, Planned Parenthood is under intense scrutiny by the highest officials in the state. These include Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Senator Charles Schwertner who Chairs the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services – each of whom is engaged in a unique probe into the actions of Planned Parenthood here in Texas.
In addition to these leaders, Texas stalwarts Representative Bryan Hughes, former Governor Rick Perry, and Senator Ted Cruz have all made hard-hitting statements denouncing the actions of Planned Parenthood. Together, Pro-Life elected officials have shown unwavering commitment to defunding and appropriately regulating the Planned Parenthood business in our state – an endeavor that has cost the abortion behemoth nearly $80 million in Texas taxpayer dollars in just four years.
And all of this without the help of some Republican leaders, and in spite of ambivalence, apathy, and outright opposition from elected officials who racked up votes by disingenuously running on the Life-affirming Republican platform. Chairman Byron Cook – among the most infamous rogues of the 84th Legislative Session – exerted more energy ensuring that Pro-Life legislation was maimed or stalled than on furthering any substantive Pro-Life measures for Texas women, preborn children, taxpayers, or vulnerable patients.
Moreover, Cook’s anti-Life assaults were not only implemented in the form of procedural manipulation. In his anti-Life activism this year, the RINO also authored a letter to all members of the Texas House of Representatives encouraging them to abandon preborn children who are aborted in Texas due to prenatal diagnoses of abnormalities. Cook argued that the killing of preborn children with “fetal abnormality” is a “delicate decision,” thus portraying the reality of abortion as an innocuous decision “not to give birth.”
But precedent consistently demonstrates what ultimately happens to Republican moderates in Texas: They are eventually dethroned by candidates who take their platform’s dedication to Life seriously. Texas voters demand action on Life, and elections increasingly testify to that fact. Texas voters are watching our leadership carefully, waiting to see who will decry the barbarism of Planned Parenthood’s inhumane and illegal organ harvesting. Even the outspoken abortion supporter and presidential candidate George Pataki has called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood in the wake of these horrendous revelations. Apparently, Texas moderates intend to demonstrate even less commitment to Life than an actively anti-Life New York RINO.
