As some of you may know, here in Texas the Governor called a
special session of the legislature to discuss redistricting and then he added
abortion to the mix. The last two weeks have been a frenzy of following the
hearings and bills and participating in the protest. Yesterday, I went to the
Capitol to speak against HB60 in committee hearing. I left after 8 hours
because they were going in alphabetical order and were only on the C's. I
didn't get a chance to share my thoughts and feelings with the committee, but I
thought I would share them here.
Thank you, chair and
committee for allowing me to testify. My name is Melissa Roth and I'm a
constituent of Representative Mark Strama of District 50. I'm here to testify
against these bills because I believe in the equality of women and reproductive
justice.
In 1978, I had an abortion. I had that surgical abortion in
a doctor's office and felt completely cared for and safe. It was a very
difficult decision for me and the right decision. I am grateful that I lived in
a state where my rights as a woman and a citizen of the United States of America
were respected. I was allowed to make the best choice for me and my family.
I could give you a list of reasons why I did what I did, but
the truth is that those reasons are private and none of your or anyone else's
business. I don't have to defend my decision.
It was my right to make it and should always be the right of each individual
woman. No one else could possibly know my mind, my heart, or understand why I
made the choice I did. And they don't have to. My right to make decisions about
my own body are mine to make. Just as you have the right to make your own
decisions about your health, body, and well-being.
Why do you deny my freedom of choice? The idea that doctors
would need admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles is ridiculous.
There are many places in this state where there is not a hospital within 30
miles of a community.
Why are you not concerned with the health of those Texans?
And what about women giving birth. More women have complications and die in
childbirth than from abortions. Shouldn't supporting small community hospitals
be a priority?
If you really cared about life and reducing the number of
abortions, wouldn't expanding Medicaid, providing science-based sex education,
easy access to birth control, funding Planned Parenthood, and doing all you
could to make health care available to each child, woman, and man in Texas be
your focus?
If all you want to do is be pro-birth, then claim that. I
hear that you claim a religious basis for your actions, yet, I see no
legislation reflecting compassion for the children in Texas that go to bed
hungry each night, or the children that are abused, abandoned, and neglected. I
see no legislation providing easy access to birth control to reduce the need
for abortion. I see no legislation to provide for child care, a living minimum
wage, or family leave so more women would feel they could care for a child.
I am against this assault on my rights and the basic
equality of women. Reproductive rights are central to women’s equal rights and
autonomy in society.
Men are free to use and buy birth control at any age. Men
are free to have vasectomies or not. And if they impregnate someone, they are
not required to subsume their rights and the sovereignty over their own bodies
at the directive of another person's religious beliefs. Freedom of choice means
that every woman and man is free to make personal decisions about their
reproductive lives based on their own religious beliefs and consciences.
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