Texas Republicans refuse to allow Texas HB 2 to die.

HB 2 was the notorious Texas Trap Law that the U.S. Supreme Court shot down in the landmark Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt ruling. In tried and true trap law fashion, HB 2 tried to use bullshit and pointless regulations to shut down abortion clinics in Texas. And it succeeded like gangbusters, until the Supremes finally shot it down.

Now, conservative Texas lawmakers are trying to come up with more insidious ways of harassing clinics and the women who need them. A bogus bill moving through the Texas House right now is designed to undermine the ability of clinics to function by forcing them to keep and report pointless and redundant data. They’re trying to strangle reproductive rights with red tape!  

HB 2962 requires abortion clinics and other abortion providers to report painstakingly detailed data on any complications that arise during or after an abortion. Texas state laws ALREADY require that providers must report the type of abortion that had the complication; the gestational age of the fetus, the date the complication was treated, and the reproductive history of the patient.

This new bill now requires doctors to report complications to the state within 72 hours. It makes state Health Department develop an electronic system for providers reporting abortion complications, and report any doctors in violation of the reporting requirements to the Texas Medical Board. Oh, and doctors must ALSO report the woman’s age, race, marital status, county and state of residence, and even the date of her last menstrual cycle!

And of course all of this is in COMPLETE DEFIANCE of statistics that show abortion is MUCH SAFER than everything from tonsillectomies to vasectomies to wisdom teeth removal!

The bill is the brainchild of Rep. Giovanni Capriglione who made headlines by trying to force State Senator Wendy Davis to personally pay the state of Texas $800,000 to cover the cost of a special session–a special session that Governor Rick Perry called after Wendy filibustered HB 2! Class all the way, Giovanni!

Give the Tex-ASSHOLES who came up with this credit: their scheme drowns clinics in red tape, while forcing them to provide statistics that will undoubtedly be twisted and misrepresented to portray abortion complications as commonplace. Note that nobody is asking for this kind of reporting on Viagra-related mishaps!