Texas Pro-Life Ad Targets Senator Wendy Davis as 'Abortion Zealot'
A pro-life group in Texas has recently created a radio advertisement that describes Senator Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) as an "abortion zealot." The advertisement comes as Davis announces her plans to run for Texas governor in the 2014 election.
The 60-second advertisement from the pro-life group Texas Right to Life will run in South Texas in both Spanish and English beginning this weekend.
"This past summer, Republicans and Democratic state legislators passed limits on second and third trimester abortions when babies are fully formed," the ad proclaims, according to the Associated Press. "Extremist groups protested this new law and rallied around abortion zealot State Senator Wendy Davis."
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"Wendy Davis puts late-term abortion ahead of our faith, our families and our Texas values," the ad continues. "Wendy Davis is wrong on life, wrong for our children and wrong for Texas."
Republicans argue that the majority of Hispanic voters are pro-life, and therefore they are seeking to portray Davis as a late-term abortion supporter, according to Politico.
Davis made national headlines earlier this summer when she held a 13-hour filibuster to oppose an omnibus abortion bill in the state that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, require abortion clinics to meet surgical care center standards, and require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Although Davis held a filibuster, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, held a special session to have the abortion bill passed.
Davis announced her plans to run for Texas governor on Thursday evening at the Wiley G. Thomas Jr. Coliseum in a suburb of Fort Worth, where she graduated high school. A democrat hasn't won a statewide office in Texas since 1994, and Davis has been described as an underdog against expected GOP gubernatorial nominee, Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has voiced his opposition to abortion.
Abortion is expected to be a major platform in the 2014 gubernatorial race. Although Texas is a red state, a poll conducted by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune in June 2013 found that 46 percent of Texas voters said abortion should never be permitted or permitted only in cases involving incest, rape or when there is danger to the woman's life, showing the state is still very much divided on the issue.
Davis' arrival to the Wiley G. Thomas Jr. Coliseum on Thursday was met with some local protest, including one resident, Denis Harris, a 75-year-old who lives on the main road to the Coliseum, posting a large white and black banner on the iron gate in front of his house that read "Wendy Baby Killer." The Birdville Church of Christ, also located on a corner near the coliseum, changed its video message board Thursday to show a baby's face with a quote from Jeremiah 1:5 that read: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you."
