"Phonies" Alert

Fish in a barrel time. Reality hitting the fan for our friends on the right:

The GOP-led Texas Legislature hasn't been quiet about its opposition to abortion or shy about restricting women's access to it.

In recent years, lawmakers have required parental consent, a 24-hour waiting period, state-directed counseling and state funding for abortion alternatives.

All this, according to some abortion rights groups, makes Texas one of 21 states most likely to ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court ever gives them the chance.

But with South Dakota lawmakers last week approving the nation's most rigid abortion ban ? designed to challenge the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion ? one might wonder: Is Texas ready to take it that far?

The answer, according to several of Texas' most ardent abortion foes, is no.

Hilarious. In other words, it's just fine and dandy to let some one-horse state toy with their partisan futures by ticking off moderate women voters. It's also fine and dandy to let them mess with the inanity of criminalizing doctors when the real ire of the right vis-a-vis abortion, is with women. Don't believe that? I refer you to Owen's established writings on that matter.

Yet, our other friend on the right, Chris, seems to have woken up to the fact that, for the Republican Party, abortion isn't about saving lives ... it's about politics. Nothing more, nothing less.

Seriously. For all the faux concern over the number of unborn children lost to abortion. Let's go back and question what it really means to be considered "pro life" shall we? I'll go out on a limb and suggest that "doing nothing" does not qualify a political party as being worth calling "pro life."

What's entirely curious is that there's a majority in the State House and State Senate who favor banning abortion in most/all situations. There's a Governor who's flaunted his desires to do the same. There's a court who, apparently, we can tell if they're pro-life based on what church they go to (hat tip: Nathan Hecht). There's every other statewide official who shares this worldview. So there's absolutely zero hurdles in the way of Rick Perry (a so-called Pro-Life Governor) getting such a bill passed.

Then, there's this quote from the Chron:

"I'm not saying we don't support a total ban. It's just not realistic at this point," said Elizabeth Graham, director of the Texas Right to Life Committee. "We would much more prefer to pass a law that saves 5,000 lives than go for something that will never be passed."

I'm sure what Mrs. Graham meant to say was "We would much more prefer to pass something that appeased a few meddlesome voters than pass something that would actually be viscerally opposed by the majority of Texans and likely cost the Texas GOP their majority."