Texas woman pulled off Senate floor after fiery testimony against abortion bill

By Evan Puschak

Sarah Slamen left her home in central Texas at 5:30 a.m. Monday to testify at the Austin Senate against the state’s controversial abortion bill. She didn’t get to speak until 11:00 pm that night, after listening to hours of what she described as a “parade of anti-choice zealots and misogynists.” By the time she was called, Slamen had scrapped her prepared speech about Gov. Rick Perry’s sister’s ties to surgical centers and doctor-owned hospitals that would benefit from the bill’s passage, and went for the senators themselves.

“Thank you for being you, Texas legislature,” Slamen said. “You have radicalized hundreds of thousands of us, and no matter what you do for the next 22 days, women and their allies are coming for you. Let’s start down the line. Senator Campbell, you’re an ophthalmologist. So I won’t be making you the expert on reproductive health. We can give you all the children with chlamydia and herpes in their eyes, since we don’t have Sex Ed in this state.”

Before she could finish her one-by-one excoriation of the Senate committee, Slamen was forcibly escorted from the chamber. When asked why she was removed in an interview with the Daily Kos, Slamen said, “There was no explanation. Senator Jane Nelson tried to say I was being disrespectful but how would she know? I barely got to give the complete performance review of every member on the committee.”

The Texas bill–SB1/HB2–which limits where and when women can get an abortion in the state, passed the state House on Tuesday, and is expected to be voted on by the Senate early next week.
Outside the committee chamber, Slamen was greeted by dozens of sympathizers cheering and applauding her testimony.