Rape Insurance???

I've learned that people will forget what you said, 

People will forget what you did, 

But they will never forget,

 How you made them feel

-Maya Angelou

I had originally written this story for publishing last month, but out of respect to the flood victims of Houston, Texas, I put a pin in it.

Apparently some women of Texas are being made to feel as though they were born the wrong gender, and their body parts are a pre-existing condition. Or do their male lawmakers need a "Freaky Friday" experience before they write laws regulating a woman's body? State Rep. John Smithee (R-Texas) authored a bill that would require women in the state of Texas to have Insurance covering all non-threatening medical procedures. "Now This News" on Twitter  posted the ironic fact that Smithee himself admits he doesn't understand why a woman has a hysterectomy, a breast exam, or any medical procedure.

Smithee defends his bill on the floor, but can't
 answer questions about women's reproductive issues.

It begs the question, what makes some of the Texas lawmakers feel qualified to past laws about women's reproductive needs while being incompetent on the subject, or why companies from covering abortion care in their standard plans, requiring women to pay extra premiums for coverage if they think they may need abortions at some point. In a nutshell for women, if she's raped and becomes pregnant but did not predict she might need to have an abortion when making her insurance coverage selections for the year, then she would have to pay out up-front for an abortion. This bill, believe it or not, is call "Rape Insurance." It's an open secret that Greg Abbott has been attempting to kill women's reproductive rights in Texas since he took office. Abbott's main target has been Planned Parenthood. It's amazing how he sits at his desk and in a Trump style manner, flashes the signed bill before the cameras in triumph of Texas rights over a woman's rights.

Whatever injustices female rape victims endure, including rape kit backlogs, the failure of law enforcement and the courts to catch and convict rapists, to add the burden that a victim, no matter what her economic status is, cannot get a legal abortion under this new law, unless she has already paid for it in advance is criminal. 

Gregg Abbott, Governor Tx proudly puts his signature to bill.

Texas has callously, in the name of economic freedom, written a bill that (they say) no longer obligates taxpayers to subsidize medical procedures that they may find morally objectionable.  This is of course a dog-whistle for the anti-abortion crowd and another attempt to strike a political win for their side.
Their idea of economic freedom for taxpayers, leaves incest and rape victims at the mercy of their circumstances. A victim who gets pregnant through a crime has no recourse, and no other options unless they can pay additional out-of-market premiums just to protect themselves. The sad part is this was passed by mostly male lawmakers. State Rep. John Smithee who authored this cruel bill couldn't tell you how a woman's reproductive system works.
Dr. Eugene Gu, a resident physician at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and president of the Ganogen Research Institute remarked in an article: 

"Rape victims by definition lose control over their own bodies during rape. Texas lawmakers essentially just took away that last drop of control women have afterwards. This law would have been much less controversial had they included these very basic exceptions and it is beyond puzzling why they did not do so. It is also ironic that they speak of economic freedom for the taxpayer while subjecting women to the most cruel form of economic control."-  
Texas 'rape insurance' bill is about economic violence against women. The Hill

 But according to Texas, women must plan to be raped. And parents shouldn't take their children around relatives or plan for their children to be victims of incest,” Texas Rep. Chris Turner (D) said before the bill passed. “Asking a woman or a parent to foresee something like that and buy supplemental insurance to cover that horrific possibility is not only ridiculous, it is cruel.”- Texas Tribune August 9, 2017

I think winning the abortion war at all costs has become the main goal with the politically righteous. People like these, don't look at a person's individual circumstances, or for that matter anyone's situation. That is what's called being out of touch with the people. They focus on making things appear to look better with new political paint over corrosive circumstances. But then again, looking like a winner is all that matters. I think the Houston Chronicle summed it up best.

"Our state lawmakers can't figure out how to cut our property taxes or fix our broken method of financing public schools. But when it comes to devising new ways of harassing women who want to end pregnancies, they're as inventive as Thomas Edison. "-Health insurance restriction is just the latest scheme to deny women access to abortion- Houston Chronicle, August 17, 2017

Special thanks to: 

Daughter of a SgtMaj‏ @bodyfit67 on Twitter who reminded me to un-pin the story.

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