Abortion Access

Virtual #FightBackTX Committee Hearing Better Than the Real Thing

Progress Texas

We aren't going anywhere. Our voices will not be silenced. We are going to fight back, Texas!

Yesterday, the "unruly mob" that came out in force last summer to stand up for Texas women proved that we are not going anywhere. Instead, activists showed that we are more informed, better connected, better organized, and more committed to fight for women's health care than any of the current anti-choice legislators in Texas.

The virtual #FightBackTX hearing that occurred on Twitter turned out to be far better - and more factual - than anything the official Sen. Health and Human Services Committee could have dreamed of. And when Senator Leticia Van de Putte made an appearance to greet all the activists, it made the whole day all the sweeter.

For more details of yesterday's hearing, read our recap below, or browse the #FightBackTX hashtag on Twitter to catch up on the whole thing!

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So here's what happened: the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee hosted an interim hearing (no legislation, just issue discussion) to talk about women's health. The hearing was billed as a way for Republican Senators to get out the facts about the "legislative accomplishments" of women's health.

Yeah...not so much. Topics like the lack of comprehensive sex education, the high number of uninsured women, and the lack of abortion access were conspicuously not on the agenda. The hearing was little more than an attempt to whitewash the sins of the past.

The hearing began with Senator Nelson laying out four basic principles she thought everyone could agree on: (1) Help navigate programs (2) coordinate and possibly consolidate the services and programs (3) address any lingering capacity issues, and (4) continue to prioritize family planning across all programs.

Sounds great...except it completely ignores the fact that Sen. Nelson and her anti-choice colleagues are directly responsible for the problem! At one point Sen. Nelson, the Chair of the committee, through up her hands and asked why the patchwork of policies about women's health was so complicated - failing to realize or refusing to admit that this is exactly what they knew what would happen.

Thankfully, the #FightBackTX Twitter team was able to be there - at the Capitol, and online - to hold Sen. Nelson and the anti-choice legislators accountable. When the experts finally had a chance to speak, they laid out some hard truths about the current state of women's health care in Texas.

Below is an overview of the information experts shared. For a more traditional recap, we'd recommend this piece from Andrea Grimes at RH Reality Check.

Tags
Abortion
Health Care

by
Progress Texas

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