woman at the texas senate tells it like it is

[rdking647]

before the thugs have the state troopers carry her away.

[oogiecatt]

1. If my vagina was a gun poem from 7/8 hearings ATX

This poem was read to the TX GOP on Monday and there was much cheering in the overflow area (the Auditorium watching the testimonies) of the Capital. She spiced it up for them as they were complaining the testimonies were too repetitive. http://dailytexanonline.com/blogs/the-update/2013/07/08/liveblog-texas-senate-committee-hears-abortion-legislation

Austinite Katie Heim was one of many to testify before the committee. Unlike the other testifiers, she read a poem she wrote, called "If My Vagina Was a Gun." Read the full poem, below:
"If my vagina was a gun, you would stand for its rights,
You would ride on buses and fight all the fights.
If my vagina was a gun, you would treat it with care,
You wouldn't spill all its secrets because, well, why go there.
If my vaginas was a gun, you'd say what it holds is private
From cold dead hands we could pry, you surely would riot.
If my vagina was a gun, it's rights would all be protected,
no matter the body count or the children effected.
If my vagina was a gun, I could bypass security,
concealed carry laws would ensure I'd have impunity.
If my vagina was a gun, I wouldn't have to beg you,
I could hunt this great land and do all the things men do.
But my vagina is not a gun, it is a mightier thing,
With a voice that rings true making lawmakers ears ring.
Vaginas are not delicate, they are muscular and magic,
So stop messing with mine, with legislation that's tragic.
My vagina's here to demand from the source,
Listen to the voices of thousand or feel their full force."

[oogiecatt]

2. Follow up interview with Sarah...

[link:http://www.salon.com/2013/07/11/texas_activist_sarah_slamen_its_this_police_state_that_keeps_us_quiet/|

Q: "You mention in the first few seconds of your speech that you had brought prepared remarks with you, but decided instead to speak off the cuff. What happened during the committee hearing to change your mind?"

A: "I wasn’t prepared for the endless stream of people standing up to call women murderers and promiscuous, selfish killers. How is that in line with Senate decorum and appropriate testimony?

I think it was around 6 o’clock [on Monday] that a woman stood up to talk about how her and her husband had spent most of their savings on in vitro fertilization treatments and that, after five or six tries, had finally gotten pregnant. But at 20 weeks, this couple found out that their baby had a rare form of spina bifida and would likely only have a 5 percent chance of survival. This woman recounted that, as soon as she learned she was pregnant, she had promised to love and protect her baby. And, in order to keep that promise, she had to have a medically necessary abortion.

After painfully recounting how she had to terminate this wanted pregnancy, a woman sitting next to her said, “I know two people who have adopted children with spina bifida.”

And not a word was said. Not one person on that committee of 20 had time to say, “Let’s not direct our comments to others providing testimony.”