Within hours after the leak of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion eviscerating the 50-year Roe vs Wade precedent on reproductive rights and personal privacy, Greg Abbott exposed himself as the off-the-edge extremist that his flat demeanor and passive aggressive nature often conceal.
Abbott got out ahead of virtually every other reactionary Republican in the country – even Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – when he immediately appeared on a right-wing syndicated radio show and endorsed the Alito opinion in its entirety, calling on SCOTUS to rule and issue the opinion unchanged this week.
What does Abbott’s extremism mean for Texans?
In 2021, EVERY Texas Republican legislator supported, and Greg Abbott signed, a so-called “trigger bill” that – 30 days following the repeal of Roe vs Wade – reimposes old Texas criminal statutes outlawing abortion under almost every circumstance. There is no exception for rape, incest, age of mother, or viability of the fetus.
How extreme is Abbott’s position?
When Abbott gets his way, if an 11-year-old child is raped and becomes pregnant – regardless of whether the rapist is a family member, acquaintance, or stranger – she must endure the pregnancy and give birth before she is a teenager.
If the parents of that 11-year-old child find a doctor who helps terminate the pregnancy, under Abbott’s draconian world view, the doctor would be prosecuted for first degree murder, and the parents would be prosecuted for accessory to murder.
SCOTUS giving Abbott excuse for more extremism
Abbott had barely finished embracing the attack on women and privacy before he pivoted to use Justice Alito’s opinion to justify an assault on public education.
Abbott revealed plans to use Alito’s attack on legal precedence to justify reversing a 40-year old Supreme Court decision requiring Texas to provide public education to ALL Texas children. Abbott framed his plan as a narrow focus on the children of immigrants. Don’t expect him to stop there. If the public education precedent is reversed, Abbott and the other extremist leaders within the legislature could hand-pick and choose which children will be allowed in Texas public schools.
Statement of Lone Star Project Director Matt Angle
“Greg Abbott has forfeited the benefit of doubt and fully embraced the most extreme attacks on personal privacy, individual liberty, and mainstream rule of law.
“Don’t let Greg Abbott’s boring style and flat demeanor hide his cruel character. Abbott’s intent is revealed by his actions. Right now, Greg Abbott is acting to destroy the fundamental rights of Texans by inserting himself into every aspect of our personal lives and individual choices.”
