Should Texas punish abortions by putting teenage girls and women to death? Or not?
That’s the current debate in the Republican Party of Texas, where outlawing abortion is no longer a question of “if” or “when” but a question of whether to kill women for getting one.
North Richland Hills Republican David Lowe swears his campaign in the May 24 runoff election has nothing to do with killing women.
“I’m not even a fan of the death penalty,” he told a Republican women’s club luncheon last week in downtown Fort Worth.
But then he went on to praise a House bill last session that would have made ending a pregnancy a potential capital crime. In other words, Texas could kill the woman, along with anyone who encouraged her or helped.
Lowe’s final comment was chilling. “Do we all agree that abortion is murder?” he asked the crowd.
“Absolutely. There should be consequences for it.”
Of all the opponents, Lowe — an Afghanistan war veteran and longtime Dallas County party volunteer — chose to run against District 91 state Rep. Stephanie Klick, a five-term House member from the Haltom City-North Richland Hills-Watauga district.
Klick, a 35-year nurse, has been a low-key House leader in Texas’ one-step-at-a-time effort to end abortion. So far, Texas has reduced abortions by about 10%.
“Abolishing abortion is important, but we can do that without giving women the death penalty,” Klick told the luncheon.
She talked about how pregnancy clinics counsel many teenage girls. At 18, they’d be eligible for the death penalty.
“Do we want to give those young girls the death penalty?” Klick asked. “ … I don’t think it’s necessary to sentence women to death that had an abortion.”
If you’re wondering how killing women became a pivotal Republican issue, that just shows how extreme this Texas primary and runoff have become.
Strong, steady, rock-solid conservatives are up against outlandish challengers accusing them of fixing elections, mutilating children, or enabling abortions.
Some other runoffs statewide match faith-and-values candidates who both want Texas governed by the Bible. They just can’t agree on whether to use the Old or New Testament.
Lowe has said he filed against Klick mainly not over abortion, but because Texas has failed to outlaw using hormones or rarely used medical procedures to affect children’s or teenagers’ gender.
In an interview with a political website, Lowe’s message to LGBT Texans — an estimated population of 1.1 million — was: “Keep your hands off our children.”
Lowe is also aligned with a Texas affiliate of Abolish Human Abortion, which calls for an immediate halt to abortion regardless of court decisions or the law.
Arlington Republican state Rep. Tony Tinderholt filed Texas’ first such bill in 2017.
The more recent 2021 version by Royse City Republican state Rep. Bryan Slaton would make ending a pregnancy anytime after fertilization a potential capital crime. That is not pro-life.
