Texas' Controversial Anti-Abortion Strategy: Blocking Roads to Reproductive Rights

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Well, hey, welcome back to the Donovan Adkisson Show, or welcome to the Donovan Adkisson Show,

if this is the first time you've ever listened to this particular podcast.

I'm glad you took the opportunity to join me.

Today I want to talk about, oh, Texas. Oh, my goodness. Texas, Texas, Texas.

So there's an article over Washington Post.

"Highways are the next anti-abortion target. One Texas town is resisting, though."

Now, I've taken the opportunity to summarize the entire article, so I'm going to read the summary for you,

but of course, as I normally do, there will be a link to the entire article

because I don't want to take anything away from the Washington Post.

They did the due diligence. They did the reporting, so therefore, they should get the credit.

But here's my summary.

"A new anti-abortion strategy is emerging in conservative cities and counties in Texas,

driven by the frustration of many conservatives after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

These jurisdictions are passing ordinances making it illegal to transport anyone for an abortion

using local roads within city or county limits.

These ordinances also allow private citizens to sue individuals or organizations they suspect of violating the law.

The goal is to block off major highways and prevent pregnant women from leaving Texas to access abortion services.

This strategy has already been implemented in two counties and two cities, with more expected to follow suit."

Think about that. They are literally looking at putting it - making it illegal for you to use the roads

that are literally paid for by the citizens. I'm presuming that's the same way it works in Texas.

I'm in Georgia. I know our taxes go for - our local taxes go for road upkeep and state taxes and things like that.

So they're literally making it illegal for a person who has every right to be on the road to -

I mean, I don't know how they're going to enforce this. And see, that's - I'm going to get to that.

That's - that's the trickery here. The state cannot enforce it. Here we go.

"However, even in deeply conservative areas, some local officials are resisting these measures,

expressing concerns about their legality and potential harm to their communities.

This pushback highlights a growing tension among anti-abortion advocates over how aggressively you can restrict abortion.

The ordinances designed by the architects of Texas Heartbeat Ban are aimed at regions with interstates

and airports to deter people from helping women leave the state for abortions.

This effort is led by anti-abortion activist Mark Lee Dickson."

And we're going to talk a little bit about Mr. Dickson here in a minute,

who defines "abortion trafficking" as helping any pregnant woman across state lines to terminate her pregnancy.

"While these restrictions appear to violate the right to travel, they are challenging to challenge in court

as they can be enforced by any private citizen. Some local officials, like Laura Almond in Lano, Texas,

who is supportive of strict abortion laws, are concerned that these efforts go too far

and could have unintended consequences. In a recent council meeting, she voted to table the ordinance

due to its vague and potentially divisive language. Despite resistance, anti-abortion activists like Dickson

are determined to expand this strategy to more conservative communities in Texas,

aiming to make it increasingly difficult for women to access abortion services outside the state."

So he's literally making it so that--and again, it does not penalize the woman, alright?

So if she has a friend--that's what they're attempting to do here--if she has a friend,

and that friend drives her out of the state of Texas to an abortion clinic,

and the way this ordinance works is if at some point they drive across one of the roads

or the interstates that goes through these towns, these little cities, what have you,

that have these ordinances in place, then any citizen in the state of Texas--well, probably specifically

in these towns with these ordinances--can then sue that friend. They can't sue the woman.

They can't sue the pregnant woman, but they can sue the friend for "abortion trafficking."

And the reason why they think they can get away with this is because of the child trafficking laws,

for prostitution, things like that. And they're like, "Well, at the federal level, it's illegal to do that,

so you're essentially--" and this is where it gets so crazy. They're attempting to say

that you are trafficking an unborn child. That unborn child does not get a say-so

in whether or not they want to travel out of the state to be aborted.

Think about that for a second. Maybe you should think about it for more than a second.

Does that mean that at any point people can get in trouble because they've done things

that their unborn child may not--I mean, do you hear how ludicrous this nonsense is?

Mark Lee, he's a character. He is a character. If I'm not mistaken, I think he's the one that's actually

been really behind the heartbeat bill specific--well, yeah, I think he's the one that's behind the bill

in Texas that opened up the floodgates to allow people to sue someone who attempts to help facilitate an abortion.

So a little history about Mr. Mark Lee Dickson. He was born in 1985. He's an American pastor

and an anti-abortion advocate. He campaigns for cities to ban abortion through local "sanctuary city" ordinances.

He was brought up in Longview, Texas. He bills himself as a 36-year-old virgin.

He stated that he has no personal experience with abortion or sexual intercourse and that his battles

with depression have helped him reflect on the value of life. He goes into these meetings.

He's known for wearing a backwards black baseball cap, a suit jacket, a button-down shirt, jeans,

and a pair of van shoes. Okay, what the hell is a van? What are van?

American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and--oh! Oh my God. Okay.

Of course, he is a supporter of Donald Trump. He believes that Trump won the 2020 election.

That doesn't surprise me. He attended the "Save America" rally on January 6th.

Claims he did not enter the Capitol. He considers all abortions murder with no exceptions.

This guy, he's a character. But, I mean, think about what they're doing here.

Man, sanctuary cities for the unborn. Ordinances are designed to target abortion funds, organizations,

individuals involved in helping women leave Texas for abortions.

I think New Mexico is one of the states that was actually mentioned in the overall article.

I mean, again, how can you find out? Are they going to start almost like a stop and frisk type thing

in these counties, in these cities? Set up roadblocks under the guise of checking everyone's

driver's license and insurance, and then if they happen to notice that there's a pregnant woman

in the vehicle, they pull them over, kind of like the TSA does for extra pat down or what have you.

They're going to pull them over onto the side of the road and start asking questions about

where are you going? How many months pregnant are you? Which, by the way, is none of anybody's business.

If a police officer pulls you over and then starts querying you, starts grilling you about

how many months pregnant are you, where are you going, etc., etc., like, no, hell no.

I mean, I don't think I would necessarily tell them to F off, but in a very polite and kind way,

I probably would because it's none of their damn business. But this right here is the type of

dystopian future that these jerks like Mr. Dickson is trying to create.

I mean, this guy has no personal experience with abortion. And I mean, as a guy,

I wouldn't expect that he would. At best, the only way you could ever have any personal experience

with abortion, if you're not a doctor who actually does abortions, is to be the father or the sperm donor

in a situation where the girl wound up having an abortion. And the fact that he claims that he's

a 36-year-old virgin, he's never had sexual intercourse, there is something mentally wrong

with this guy, in my opinion. So he doesn't turn around and try to sue me. In my opinion,

there is something mentally wrong with this guy. He's so hell-bent, for some reason,

on trying to make sure that no unborn child-- Okay, let's be clear. It's a fetus.

It cannot survive outside the womb up until about 22 weeks, give or take. All right?

It's nothing but a clump of cells. There is no "there" there. It's just frustrating.

But I wanted you to be aware of the kind of bullshittery that is still taking place in Texas.

You know, there are days where I think it might not be a bad idea if Texas did secede from the Union.

Just carve them out. Just carve them out, because they've got some really crazy, asinine ideas

of what it means to be an American citizen. I mean, if you're a Texan and you don't feel

the way Mr. Dickson does, Mark Lee Dickson, then I'll take you out of the equation.

And I don't want you to have to move out of Texas if you love Texas, but come on!

This right here is the reason why, unfortunately, it is very, very important.

We always concentrate on state and national elections. This is the reason why it is so damned important

to also concentrate on local elections. Think about it. That's how this guy was able to facilitate

getting the type of abortion ban that currently exists in Texas about the whole,

"Well, your neighbor or any other citizen can sue you" scenario.

Because this would never be enforceable by the state itself. It just wouldn't.

But the type of shenanigans that he is up to... Lovely people of Texas. Kind people of Texas.

Y'all need to stop this crap. Nip it in the bud, as Barney Fife would say.

Nip it in the bud. You really need to. It's asinine. It's crazy. Stop it.

Look, I'm pro-choice. I've actually been on the fathering side of a scenario that did end in an abortion.

It's not something I'm proud of, but she and I were both too young.

There was mitigating circumstances. It was not a good time.

And to this day, I mean, you play the what-if, all right? But it was her choice, give or take.

I mean, she might have been pressured into it by her parents. But the point is,

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I've got all the experience,

but I've got a hell of a lot more abortion-related experience than Mr. Mark Lee Dickson ever will

and currently has right now. So again, I tell you, it's important.

So local elections, it starts there because that's how the current anti-abortion laws

were able to get to where they are in Texas today. And that type of thing needs to be stopped.

I think a happy medium of about 15 weeks, 15 to 18 weeks is a good medium.

There needs to be carve-outs for like even after 18 weeks that if there is something,

the child's not going to have a healthy life. It's going to struggle.

Mitigating circumstances, but the choice needs to be available to all women, all of them, period.

Anyway, what do you think about this kind of craziness that's going on here in Texas

where they apparently already have two counties and two cities on board with this anti-

or rather abortion trafficking, which that labeling, that naming and labeling right there

is meant to scare people. It makes them connect to like the trafficking, human trafficking,

the trafficking of children, things like that. But what do you think? Let me know.

Voicemail number is 762-325-1313. Again, that is 762-325-1313.

Or you can email the show. That email address is show@donovanadkisson.com.

Again, that's show@donovanadkisson.com.

If you live in Texas and you've got any personal experience with this kind of thing,

or if you know Mark Lee Dickson, I'd love to hear from you. Let me know your thoughts.

Anyway, that's it. Appreciate you taking the time to join me for this episode.

Maybe you've learned something, and I'll talk to you in the next episode.

Till then, take care.

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Texas' Controversial Anti-Abortion Strategy: Blocking Roads to Reproductive Rights
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