Texas Valedictorian Blasts Cowardly Texas Abortion Law

Politics and Social Issues
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It’s always nice to see someone stand up and say what needs to be said, and from every podium, if only there were more brave people out there.

A high school valedictorian in Texas ditched her school-approved speech to use the moment to speak out against a restrictive new abortion law in Texas. MSNBC's Brian Williams shares the details.
 

 

… >> RECENTLY, THE HEARTBEAT BILL WAS PASSED IN TEXAS.

STARTING IN SEPTEMBER, THERE WILL BE A BAN ON ABORTIONS AFTER SIX WEEKS OF PREGNANCY REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE PREGNANCY WAS THE RESULT OF RAPE OR INCEST.

SIX WEEKS.

THATS ALL WOMEN GET.

BEFORE THEY HAVE A CHANCE TO DECIDE IF THEY ARE EMOTIONALLY, PHYSICALLY, AND FINANCIALLY STABLE ENOUGH TO CARRY OUT A FULL-TERM PREGNANCY, AND BEFORE THEY DECIDE IF THEY CAN TAKE ON THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BRINGING INTO HUMAN BEING INTO THE WORLD, THAT DECISION IS MADE BY A STRANGER.

IT WILL AFFECT THE REST OF THEIR LIVES.

I HAVE DREAMS AND HOPES AND AMBITIONS, EVERY GIRL GRADUATING TODAY DOES.

AND WE HAVE SPENT OUR ENTIRE LIVES WORKING TOWARDS OUR FUTURE.

AND WITHOUT OUR INPUT AND CONSENT, OUR CONTROL OVER THAT FUTURE HAS BEEN STRIPPED AWAY FROM US.

I AM TERRIFIED THAT IF MY CONTRACEPTIVES FAIL, MY DREAMS FOR MY FUTURE WILL NO LONGER MATTER.

I HOPE YOU CAN FEEL HOW GUT-WRENCHING AND DEHUMANIZING IT IS TO HAVE THE AUTONOMY OF YOUR OWN BODY TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU.

AND I CANNOT GIVE UP THIS PLATFORM TO PROMOTE COMPLACENCY AND PEACE WHEN

THERE IS A WAR ON MY BODY AND A WAR ON MY RIGHTS.

A WAR ON THE RIGHTS OF YOUR MOTHERS,

A WAR ON THE RIGHTS OF YOUR SISTERS, A WAR ON THE RIGHTS OF YOUR DAUGHTERS.

WE CANNOT STAY SILENT. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

[ CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ]

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You can watch this kid coming into her own as she speaks

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She is a well meaning but very sheltered kid. Her feelings will change when she gets out in the world.

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Her feeling will change?

You think Guy?

What, you’re telling us you believe she’ll change her mind and decide she actually does really want a bunch of vicious old white guys, racists and sexist at that, making her decisions for her.

 

Please explain how you see that change of heart playing out?

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PS

January 13, 2020 Five Years After Abortion, Nearly All Women Say It Was the Right Decision, Study Finds

Even Those Who Struggled to Make the Abortion Decision Supported it Years Later

By Laura Kurtzman

 

Five years after having an abortion, over 95 percent of the women in a landmark UC San Francisco study said it was the right decision for them.

The findings, published Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020, in Social Science & Medicine, come as many states are requiring waiting periods and counseling for women seeking abortions, based on the assumption that they may regret having them.

But the researchers at UCSF’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) found no evidence that women began to regret their decisions as years passed. On the contrary, the women reported that both their positive and negative feelings about the abortion diminished over time. At five years, the overwhelming majority (84 percent) had either positive feelings, or none at all. …

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I think her complete speech deserves reprinting.

Lake Highlands High School Valedictorian Paxton Smith’s - her graduation address:

As we leave high school we need to make our voices heard. Today, I was going to talk about TV and media and content because it’s something that’s very important to me. However, under light of recent events, it feels wrong to talk about anything but what is currently affecting me and millions of other women in this state.

Recently the heartbeat bill was passed in Texas. Starting in September, there will be a ban on abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy, regardless of whether the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. 6 weeks. That’s all women get. Most women don’t even realize they’re pregnant by then. And so, before they have the time to decide if they are emotionally, physically, and financially stable enough to carry out a full-term pregnancy, before they have the chance to decide if they can take on the responsibility of bringing another human being into the world, that decision is made for them by a stranger. A decision that will affect the rest of their lives has been made by a stranger.

I have dreams and hopes and ambitions. Every girl graduating today does. And we have spent our entire lives working towards our future, and without our input or consent, our control over that future has been stripped away from us. I am terrified that if my contraceptives fail, I am terrified that if I’m raped, then my hopes and aspirations and dreams and efforts for my future will no longer matter. I hope that you can feel how gut-wrenching it is. I hope you can feel how dehumanizing it is to have the autonomy over your own body taken away from you.

And I’m talking about this today, on a day as important as this, on a day honoring 12 years of hard academic work, on a day where we are all gathered together, on a day where you are most inclined to listen to a voice like mine, a woman’s voice, to tell you that this is a problem. And it’s a problem that cannot wait. I cannot give up this platform to promote complacency and peace, when there is a war on my body and a war on my rights. A war on the rights of your mothers, a war on the rights of your sisters, a war on the rights of your daughters.

We cannot stay silent.


 

Russell Smith says he couldn’t be prouder of his daughter and her actions. “It was something that she felt was important, and she had the nerve, determination and boldness to put herself out there and say her piece. So few people demonstrate this level of maturity and poise, regardless of age.”

 

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In a few years her fears will subside. She will learn it is not difficult to avoid unwanted pregnancy and abortion is no replacement for birth control.

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In a few years her fears will subside. She will learn it is not difficult to avoid unwanted pregnancy and abortion is no replacement for birth control.
Richo, here's another example of the damage inflicted by willful ignorance, stupidity and selfishness. Not the slightest interest in hearing what the other side of his argument has to say.

What woman actually think doesn’t matter one iota to these sorts of guys, all they know is their own bubble, what do they care what women actually want?

 

Sort of like that slovenly looking fat white guy in the background right, who never seemed to hear any of what Rep. Brian Sims was sharing.

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Why Pennsylvania’s statewide offices are almost always white and male Billy Penn analyzed everything we could find to see how many women and people of color have served in statewide offices.

Cassie Owens - Oct. 05, 2016

https://billypenn.com/2016/10/05/why-pennsylvanias-statewide-offices-are-almost-always-white-and-male/


 

Pennsylvania Republicans cut a lawmaker's mic after he said the state GOP is '100% white' Charles Davis - Jun 9, 2021

Pennsylvania’s Republican House leadership cut the microphone of a state Democrat on Wednesday.
Rep. Brian Sims, a Democrat from Philadelphia, said the GOP delegation “is 100% white.”
Sims accused the Pennsylvania GOP of pursuing a “grossly, predictably misogynistic agenda.”

businessinsider _com/pennsylvania-republicans-cut-lawmakers-mic-state-gop-100-percent-white-2021-6

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Hi Citizen. No where near in a million years as much damage as this

 

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I won’t be arguing that with you.

Manchin, or is that Joe Manchurian, deserves is own thread, there’s quite a bit to unpack, isn’t there.

 

What the Media Are Missing About Joe Manchin The senator has skillfully managed his image, to stay viable in a state that went from a Democratic to a Republican majority.

By Christopher J. Regan

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But, let’s not dismiss a woman’s Right to Self-Defense and Sovereignty over her own body. YES! Even when that body is carrying a fetus.

A fetus is a bundle of potential, but it has yet achieve the mantel of personhood, until it enters this world.

Humans die every day, all the time, often after living monstrously miserable lives.

Killing a fetus, is a very serious thing, between a woman and her chosen circle of people. It is not the government’s business.

It’s not the worst crime in the world - it’s doesn’t come close to comparing to some of the horrors all too many children have endured because they were born into families that couldn’t take care of them, within a society where the Christian crowd cares more about birth numbers, than in nurturing living children.

I mean, how can the same guys screaming about right to life, then scream for shutting down lunch programs and pre-school programs, planned parenthood health clinics, etc., because they cost too much money, though the Pentagon gets to burn up billions a year on weapons of mass destruction and paper pushing.

Yeah yeah, I know why we have our military and I also know how monstrously abused it is, and how monstrously brainwashed the war lovers for profit are.

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Killing a fetus, is a very serious thing, between a woman and her chosen circle of people. It is not the governments business.
It's also often the same clan that say the Gov't shouldn't be mandating masks - and even going so far as outlawing businesses to require masks.
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testing

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There is no right to kill and destroy others actually. That is what is called wickedness in the extreme.

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There is no right to kill and destroy others actually. That is what is called wickedness in the extreme.
Much of the debate, and the some of republican tactics have been based on the definition of "others"

 

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Is the fœtus a humain being ?

It depends how old it is !

Certainly not before the 10th week…

 

 

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Who made that rule? Not God. You might as well say no one is human unless they are 24 years old and live in Philadelphia. Such proclamations are worthless.

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Others is someone other than yourself. You do not get to label some others as non important or less than human.

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Right and wrong is not determined by how some crooked little wicked politicians decide they want to mould the world into their own image actually. The measure of all good and evil is not in whether some poor souls are deceived into wearing a germ infested face diaper. I kid you not.