President-elect Donald Trump is continuing his theme of selecting pro-life advocates for key positions in his cabinet. Today the incoming president is in the news for the expected selection of pro-life former Texas Governor Rick Perry as his Energy Secretary.
Although the Energy Secretary doesn’t have purview over important pro-life issues, the selection shows that the incoming president has no problem selecting pro-life advocates to serve in his administration.
The naming of the pro-life governor to the Energy secretary position follows on the heels of trump naming pro-life Governor Nikki Haley as his UN Ambassador and pro-life senator Jeff Sessions as his attorney general. Trump has also selected pro-life Congressman Tom Price to become his secretary for the health and human services department and he named pro-life physician Ben Carson as his HUD Secretary as well as pro-life advocate Betsy DeVos as his education secretary.
The pro-life advocate brings a long pro-life record to the table as the former top elected official from the second largest state. When it comes to his record on pro-life issues, Perry was a consistent pro-life leader who went to bat numerous times for the cause of unborn children.
In 2013, Perry signed a ban on late-term abortions into law.
“Today’s signing builds on our continued commitment to protecting life for more than a decade. This is an important day for those who support life and the health of women in Texas,” Perry said. “Signing HB2 further solidifies the foundation on which the culture of in Texas is built.”
“HB2 brings improvements to the quality of care women receive,” Perry added. “HB2 protects unborn babies after the fifth month of pregnancy.”requires a doctor providing abortions to secure admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, and lastly, requires a doctor to personally administer the abortion-inducing drugs to the patient.
After the Texas House voted, Perry issued a statement saying: “The tremendous outpouring of support for this legislation has demonstrated how Texas stands for life, and I commend everyone who wore blue, turned out and spoke up in support of life in our state. Now is not the time to waver, however, as the Senate continues its important work in support of women’s health and protecting the lives of our most vulnerable Texans.”
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Perry issued a call for a special session of the Texas legislature to pass the bill that a pro-abortion mob and Wendy Davis’ filibuster prevented the legislature from passing.
“I am calling the Legislature back into session because too much important work remains undone for the people of Texas. Through their duly elected representatives, the citizens of our state have made crystal clear their priorities for our great state,” Perry said.
“Texans value life and want to protect women and the unborn. Texans want a transportation system that keeps them moving. Texans want a court system that is fair and just. We will not allow the breakdown of decorum and decency to prevent us from doing what the people of this state hired us to do.”
Before that, Perry delighted pro-life advocates when he made a bill to allow women to see an ultrasound of their baby before an abortion one of his legislative priorities.
“It’s pretty hard to imagine people of good conscience sitting idly by through this, and in Texas we haven’t,” he said, saying the Supreme Court decision to allow virtually unlimited abortions, Roe v. Wade, is a “tragedy.”
That made it easier for the legislation to move through the legislative process after having been stalled for years, and Perry ultimately signed the pro-life bill into law. When used in pregnancy centers, ultrasounds convince more than 80 percent of women considering an abortion to keep their baby or consider adoption.
“Governor Perry was pleased to sign this important legislation, which bolsters our efforts to protect life by ensuring Texans are fully informed when considering such an important decision,” said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for the governor.
Days before signing the ultrasound legislation, Governor Perry signed into law the Choose Life license plate bill giving Texas motorists a life-affirming option on their vehicles. Under the legislation, motorists would be able to purchase Choose Life license plates to express their pro-life views and help support programs helping pregnant women.
Perry has not only signed legislation but he has frequently stepped up to the plate to raise funds for pro-life efforts — including supporting Heroic Media, a group that spread the pro-life message via television and radio advertising. During a fundraising event, Perry joined in on exposing Obama’s pro-abortion record and focused on him overturning the Mexico City Policy and forcing Americans to pay for funding groups that promote and perform abortions overseas.
“America is in the business of exporting abortion. I’m not happy about that,” Perry said and, saying of unborn children, “Too bad we can’t protect them from the federal government.”
