This is insidious.
Wendy Davis, the state senator from Fort Worth, is contemplating a run for the Democratic nomination for governor. Her likely opponent, the Republican attorney general, has been heavily using social media. He recently held a town hall meeting on Twitter.
She has become a symbol for women’s and abortion rights, and some of the attacks against her have been both personal and sexist. (emphasis added)
There are lots of ways a neutral news report could describe Wendy Davis. That bolded phrase isn’t among them.
The fact of the matter is that the bill Davis filibustered was sponsored by women in the Texas House and Senate — Rep. Jodie Laubenberg and Sen. Donna Campbell. The latter happens to be an ER physician, by the way. Numerous women in both houses, including state Rep. Stephanie Klick and state Rep. Stefani Carter — the former from Fort Worth, the latter from Dallas — both supported and voted for the bill. Obviously Wendy Davis is not a symbol for them or their right to oppose abortion.
Another fact of the matter is that the bill that Davis filibustered strengthens the cause of women’s health by demanding improvements in abortion clinics. Davis wants them largely unregulated, an environment that paved the way for Kermit Gosnell’s abattoir in Pennsylvania. Davis either does not know about Gosnell, or declines to state on the record what she does know about him. Gosnell is highly relevant to the law that Davis filibustered. Why hasn’t Christy Hoppe noted Davis’ stated ignorance?
Another fact of the matter is that the bill in question enjoys strong majority support across Texas.
Hoppe could have mentioned any of that, but she chose not to. Instead, she chose to parrot the Texas Democratic Party’s line on Wendy Davis — “We stand with women!” As long as pro-life women, and the women who sponsored the bill that Davis filibustered, don’t count at all.
The Texas Democratic Party obviously has a vested interest in turning Davis into “a symbol for women’s rights and abortion rights.”
What’s Christy Hoppe’s interest in misusing her position as a reporter at the Dallas Morning News to assist the Texas Democrats?
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