The Politics of Prevention is an occasional series on the effects of state policy on women's health services. Participate in our project by sharing your women's health story here.
Abortion clinics across the state have closed as a result of strict regulations on the procedure approved in 2013 by the Republican-led Texas Legislature. In August 2013, before the rules took effect, there were 40 licensed abortion providers in Texas.
By October 2014, the number of licensed abortion facilities able to perform the procedure had dropped to eight. On Tuesday, a ruling by the three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the state to continue enforcing the requirements that doctors performing abortions have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of a clinic, and that clinics meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers.
Use the map below to see how the number of licensed abortion facilities in Texas has changed because of the new regulations. Abortion clinics are marked in teal and ambulatory surgical centers that perform abortions are marked in yellow. The clinics that remained open as of March 2014 but no longer performed the procedure have hollow markers.
The map shows where licensed abortion facilities were located in August 2013, before the legislation took effect; the facilities that were open as of March 2014, when this project was originally produced; and the facilities that remained open as of October 2014, when a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling allowed the state to enforce the admitting privileges and ambulatory surgical center rules. Roll over the facilities to see details about their location and history.
This story was produced with the support of the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism, a program of the USC Annenberg School of Journalism's California Endowment for Health Journalism Fellowships, and in partnership with Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
The Texas Tribune is pleased to provide the opportunity for you to share your observations about this story. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask that you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or wandering away from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of the Tribune, and your real name will be displayed. Thanks for taking time to offer your thoughts.
Comments (43)
Mack Green
Texas--Moving ever forward toward the past.
Jackie Girouard via Texas Tribune on Facebook
No facilities in the Valley come fall; not even in El Paso. I'm sure the proponents of this law are hurrying to take classes to foster babies, and surely they will want to increase services for pregnant women, infants, and family planning. I didn't know they wanted more people in that area of Texas but they will be there very soon.
Carrie Youngblood via Texas Tribune on Facebook
And then accuse women who travel to seek legal medical services of "abortion tourism".
Russell Crawford
One of the main reasons that we are now suffering a loss of women's rights and damage to women's health is because the Department of State Health Services did not do what is required by law. I submitted to the DSHS a series of Scientific Laws that prove the impact of abortion in Texas is a positive impact and not a negative impact. The laws of Texas require the DSHS to review submissions by citizens and to respond to those submissions. The DSHS did not review or reply to the evidence submitted and in fact put off any substantive response for a year. Obviously this occurred because the intent of the DSHS is to impact the upcoming elections.
As a result of the actions of the DSHS, numerous clinics have been closed and thousands of women have been denied their rights.
http://www.scientificabortionlaws.com
Fr-Andrew R. Moore via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Beautiful. Thanks again Governor Perry and legislators (of both parties) who stood up for the defenseless unborn!
Bethany Herrera
Even the clinics shown as open are not operating under what once were considered normal conditions. A prospective patient seeking an appointment often finds that the waiting time for her first sonogram appointment -- or the delay between her sonogram and the second appointment for the actual procedure -- can stretch into weeks. As a result, clinics with everyday physician availability are being asked to provide care for unprecedented numbers of patients, a situation that now delays access in those facilities as well.
The elimination of all facilities in the RGV is a disaster, but if you called the remaining Texas clinics and asked how soon you could get an appointment, you would find that the situation in the rest of the state isn't much better. And it's quite literally becoming worse by the day.
Nannette Johnstone via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Andrew??? Are you educated?? Are you human? Oh wait, you're a man....never mind neither of those things matter! Very sad!!
West Texas Intermediate Crude
President Clinton said that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare."
Requiring standards for abortion centers that equal those where other surgical procedures are done will make abortions safer. It's true that most abortions do not result in complications, but lack of standards and failure to enforce them led to the suffering and deaths at Dr Gosnell's Women's Health Care Center. We don't want that here.
Legal? Abortions are legal if the rules are followed.
Rare? A matter of perspective. An abortions is never an emergency. The situation that leads for the perceived need for an abortion is >90% preventable with readily available technology. Nobody is outlawing birth control pills, devices, or methods (unless abortion is used as birth control). Saying No until sex can be done safely is effective (admittedly not as much fun).
As another president (the current one) has said, "Elections have consequences." The majority of Texas voters support current policies. If you favor abortion on demand, run for office under that platform and win an election. If you want abortions available in your community, raise funds to build clinics that meet the standards, if it means that much to you. The standards are high, as they should be, but are met all over the state by surgical centers. Why should pregnant women have 2nd class facilities to receive their "health care?"
People who oppose abortions on demand believe that taking the life of a fetus is a serious wrong, to be done only under the most extreme circumstances (that's the "rare" part of the equation). We can agree to disagree about that.
Joan P Camenson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We can thank the legislature, those guys in Austin who say they want to help women. Yuk.
Amanda LovesCats Migden via Texas Tribune on Facebook
the link doesn't work. I think your website is down.
jason chance
Abortion is a safer and a less time consuming procedure than...say....lasik Eye surgery, cosmetic surgery, vasectomy surgeries, colonoscopies, or wisdom teeth extractions....and a ton of other surgeries that take place in clinics and not in Ambulatory surgical centers.
There are more emergency hospital visits by patients who received botched dental surgery and torn rectums from colonoscopies gone wrong (I got torn once and had to stay face down in a hospital for two days) than women patients who received an abortion. People die from cosmetic surgeries and even from dental surgery.
Life Safety Code (LSC).... is the code that is supposed to be the guidelines for safety in hospitals, schools, libraries, etc.
Targeting only women's health clinics to adher to these safety codes and guidelines while excluding all other more dangerous forms of clinic surgeries from this code is unconstitutional because it is a form of targeted discrimination. Why force Abortion clinics to adher to a safety code when a guy like me can walk into a clinic and get a penis enlargement surgical procedure at a place that doesn't have space for a gurney to get through a hallway? or a clinic that doesn't have handicap parking spaces???
Shouldn't all clinics that offer surgical procedures have to follow the same safety standards? shouldn't all clinics that do surgeries be required to upgrade and renovate to become ambulatory surgical centers? If women's safety is the main reason why these pro-life people want abortion centers to become ASCs then shouldn't the argument also include "All people's safety" and include all clinics that provide any form of surgical procedure and service to adher to these safety standard regulations?
Focusing only on Abortion clinics is discrimination and unconstitutional. It should be all or none. Not just on one type of clinic because it doesn't meet with a pro-lifer's view of what is moralistically right.
Judith Shields via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Vote out the woman-hating politicians in Austin!
West Texas Intermediate Crude
Mr Chance-
Your argument makes me believe that we need tighter regulation of colonoscopy sites, not lesser regulation of abortion clinics. It's possible that the tight regulations on abortion clinics are an over-reaction to the horrors of Dr Gosnell's "Women's Medical Society," but I know of no gastroenterologists who are doing life without parole for for multiple murders done in the guise of "women's healthcare." The doctors who do colonoscopies, eye surgery, and oral surgery in my community all have hospital privileges (I don';t know about the penis enlargement procedure that you are considering- if it's to be done by a urologist, they are on our hospital staff also).
You also entirely ignore the perspective of the majority of Texans who believe that abortion has a 50% mortality rate- surely any surgical procedure, however "minor," that has a mortality rate in the double digits should be regulated tightly. I understand that you believe that the fetus is not worthy of protection under the law, but if you had come after my wife when she was carrying one of my children with that perspective, there would have been an unpleasant confrontation.
You can call "discrimination" - discriminate means to choose one over the other. I choose to protect the lives of mothers and their babies, even if it leads to inconvenience and spending a few extra dollars.
West Texas Intermediate Crude
Ms Shields-
Half the babied who are aborted are female- millions of potential women not allowed to survive. You are right- there is a cluster of abortion clinics around Austin. It will be even worse for those babies condemned by their XX status if sex selection abortions catch on in the USA as they are practiced in some overseas cultures.
Maddy Hack
Ladies (and gentleman) the real answer is to keep our legs closed until such time as we are desirous of and can support a child. Asking someone to pay for our promiscuous ways is the equivalent of expecting someone to pay for our gambling in Vegas. And Russell Crawford abortion is not a right just like Penis Enlargement is not a right. Nor is it a right or obligation that every community has a licensed clinic or hospital. Your entitlement mindset is a huge part of what's wrong with America today. And traveling for services??? I noticed prior to Aug of 2013 there were only 4 clinics west of I35 as it stretched from OK to San Antonio. Regulating healthcare provider facilities has been around for many decades. I guess if all the haters had their way they'd go back to the coat hanger abortion days where you could go anywhere and get them done. The question I'd like to see the haters answer is all other things being equal how many of you would choose one of these locations to get a procedure done versus a licensed hospital? Probably ZERO. The other question is why don't these places make the improvements necessary to become licensed? If it's so important why not do it? lastly how many of these haters are writing checks to A) either fund licensed clinics or B) Fund improvements to new ones. Once again I would guess the answer is close to ZERO. They all want to use other peoples money to pay for their behavior choices. Now before you whine about medically complicated pregnancies, rape, and other abnormal situations I'm not against that. Just have it done in a safe licensed clinic. OH and the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Waco....... last I checked they were licensed but nor performing abortions. I would suggest picketing there to start.
David Presley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Remove the dots
Leesa Monroe via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We get the government we deserve
Carrie Hiner via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Remove the penis, remove the dot.
Dana Dixon via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Grateful I'm past the child bearing age.
Amy Day via Texas Tribune on Facebook
PP led a large organization before they started taking women for granted ... truly the end of an abusive era ... the voting women in Texas are relieved.
Cody N Ailene via Texas Tribune on Facebook
That's a lot of reduction in murderers.
Karen Spivey-Cummings via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Taxpayers are in for a big hit. Hide and watch.
Thrifty Senior
Very cute mr Crude but you don't have to be so long winded about it. Nobody is reading past the first sentence.The purpose of this and similar laws is to chip away at Roe v Wade. You know it and the elected Republican legislators and appelate judges know it.
Adam Silva via Texas Tribune on Facebook
http://theweek.com/article/index/269207/this-abortion-opponent-wants-to-execute-women-who-have-abortions-dont-act-so-shocked
"If abortion really is murder, then everyone involved deserves to be punished, and punished severely just as Kevin Williamson says.
If, on the other hand, such punishment sounds wildly, almost absurdly disproportionate, then maybe it's a sign that abortion really isn't murder after all."
Bob Atkins via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The well-to-do, as always, can afford to travel for an abortion. The poor are left with few options. Providing contraception and teaching sex-ed could prevent many unwanted pregnancies. Insurance could help provide for the care, before and after birth, of those children that are carried to term. Why is Texas so opposed to that?
Paul Hughes via Texas Tribune on Facebook
At least 97% of abortion is elective, medically unnecessary, and should be outlawed. Abortion is largely a matter of personal convenience, sexual irresponsibility, and radical Feminist and Eugenicist politics.
Babies are human beings who have the right to live from the day of conception -- at which point they are NOT "part of the mother," having as they do their own unique DNA. If you do not believe that, look it up, then believe the truth.
Jill Anjack via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Fantastic news!
Only eight to go.
Travis Jarratt via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Just proves that Texas is as backward and stupid as we thought.
Brian Roper via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Taking America Back...to the McCarthy era
Jonathan D Borazjani via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The way to decrease abortions is by sex ed and making birth control available.
Rape babies, single moms, ruined lives, bigoted neighbors like Jill Anjack, botched abortions, a state that is failing, a state that hates welfare will have more of it, our taxes will rise...
It's like "Let's improve healthcare by closing down hospitals!" flawed logic.
ANYONE of science will tell you it's nothing close to a human for 3 months..just some romantic numbskulls are like "Yeah..but God wanted my daughter to have that rape potato so we should make sure it's born."
I knew a scientist who was EXTREMELY conservative, he even denied climate change to a degree, but he laughed when people called fetus' people.
Elizabeth Turner via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It's horrible enough when men feel entitled to regulate women's bodies, but even more depressing when women willingly serve as their apologists. I pray this will be overturned soon and that women will regain access to safe and legal abortion services, contraception, routine health screenings and medical care.
Mindy Zumba
This is the list of republican guppie teabagger child molester/pedophiles:
Republican aide, Alan David Berlin, was arrested on charges that he wanted to engage in sex acts with a 15 year old boy while dressed in a panda costume.
Fox News producer Aaron Bruns pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years for possessing child pornography.
Republican activist and former presidential campaign chairman Jeffrey Claude Bartleson was arrested on charges of sexually molesting a 5-year old boy.
Republican activist and former chairman of the Christian County Republicans Royce Fessenden pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree child molestation and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy.
Republican parole board officer and former legislator George Christian (Chris) Ortloff pleaded guilty to attempting to lure 11- and 12-year-old girls to have sex with him.
Republican legislative aide Robert R. Groezinger pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Republican legislator Robert A. McKee pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Republican chief of staff Eric Feltner pleaded guilty to showing pornography to a 13-year old girl.
Republican presidential campaign official Matthew Joseph Elliott was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child.
Republican city councilman John Bryan killed himself after police began investigating allegations that he had molested three girls, including two of his adopted daughters, ages 12 and 15.
Republican legislator Ted Klaudt was charged with raping girls under the age of 16.
Republican city councilman Joseph Monteleone Jr. was found guilty of fondling underage girls.
Republican congressional aide Jeffrey Nielsen was arrested for having sex with a 14-year old boy.
Republican County Commissioner Patrick Lee McGuire surrendered to police after allegedly molesting girls between the ages of 8 and 13.
Republican prosecutor Larry Corrigan was arrested for soliciting sex from 13-year old girls.
Republican Mayor Jeffrey Kyle Randall was sentenced to 275 days in jail for molesting two boys -- ages ten and 12 -- during a six-year period.
Republican County Board Candidate Brent Schepp was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl and killed himself three days later.
Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after "sexually explicit" emails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year old boy.
Republican executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Washington Times newspaper pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a 13-year old girl on the internet.
Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl.
Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting sex from an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.
Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.
Republican petition drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business.
Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano pleaded guilty to fondling a 14-year-old girl.
Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.
Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.
Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.
Republican Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the internet.
Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.
Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.
Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.
Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.
Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.
Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.
Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.
Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.
Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.
Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.
Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial.
Republican fundraiser Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.
Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.
Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.
Republican campaign chairman Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and was arrested again five years later on the same charge.
Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.
Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.
Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer.
Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.
Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.
Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.
Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.
Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.
Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.
Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.
Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.
Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.
Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.
Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.
Republican legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).
Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.
Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.
Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.
Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.
Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.
Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.
Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.
Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.
Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.
Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.
Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.
Republican campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken was convicted of having sex with two underage girls.
Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.
Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.
Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency. See excerpt of one prisoner's report here and his full report here.
Keep voting republican, but keep your children locked up at hom away from therse jerks...OR???
VOTE: Hillary, Castro 2016, 20o20, McCaskill/Warren 2024, 2028
Mindy Zumba
Republican aide, Alan David Berlin, was arrested on charges that he wanted to engage in sex acts with a 15 year old boy while dressed in a panda costume.
Fox News producer Aaron Bruns pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years for possessing child pornography.
Republican activist and former presidential campaign chairman Jeffrey Claude Bartleson was arrested on charges of sexually molesting a 5-year old boy.
Republican activist and former chairman of the Christian County Republicans Royce Fessenden pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree child molestation and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy.
Republican parole board officer and former legislator George Christian (Chris) Ortloff pleaded guilty to attempting to lure 11- and 12-year-old girls to have sex with him.
Republican legislative aide Robert R. Groezinger pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Republican legislator Robert A. McKee pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Republican chief of staff Eric Feltner pleaded guilty to showing pornography to a 13-year old girl.
Republican presidential campaign official Matthew Joseph Elliott was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child.
Republican city councilman John Bryan killed himself after police began investigating allegations that he had molested three girls, including two of his adopted daughters, ages 12 and 15.
Republican legislator Ted Klaudt was charged with raping girls under the age of 16.
Republican city councilman Joseph Monteleone Jr. was found guilty of fondling underage girls.
Republican congressional aide Jeffrey Nielsen was arrested for having sex with a 14-year old boy.
Republican County Commissioner Patrick Lee McGuire surrendered to police after allegedly molesting girls between the ages of 8 and 13.
Republican prosecutor Larry Corrigan was arrested for soliciting sex from 13-year old girls.
Republican Mayor Jeffrey Kyle Randall was sentenced to 275 days in jail for molesting two boys -- ages ten and 12 -- during a six-year period.
Republican County Board Candidate Brent Schepp was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl and killed himself three days later.
Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after "sexually explicit" emails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year old boy.
Republican executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Washington Times newspaper pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a 13-year old girl on the internet.
Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl.
Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting sex from an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.
Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.
Republican petition drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business.
Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano pleaded guilty to fondling a 14-year-old girl.
Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.
Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.
Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.
Republican Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the internet.
Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.
Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.
Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.
Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.
Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.
Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.
Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.
Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.
Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.
Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.
Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial.
Republican fundraiser Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.
Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.
Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.
Republican campaign chairman Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and was arrested again five years later on the same charge.
Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.
Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.
Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer.
Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.
Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.
Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.
Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.
Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.
Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.
Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.
Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.
Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.
Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.
Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.
Republican legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).
Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.
Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.
Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.
Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.
Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.
Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.
Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.
Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.
Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.
Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.
Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.
Republican campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken was convicted of having sex with two underage girls.
Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.
Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.
Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency. See excerpt of one prisoner's report here and his full report here.
keep voting these jerks in and watch your children...don't let them be alone with these old men/women who prey upon them...look at Denny Hasert!
K Lin Noble via Texas Tribune on Facebook
????
Diane Treider via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Well, the wealthy women in Texas have nothing to fear. They still have access.
Eleazar Paradise via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Pro choice folk make me sick. This is good news. Now on to close the last 8.
James Moop via Texas Tribune on Facebook
These Christian right-winger Republicans care not an ounce for any baby or mother outside their own families. The same time they are working to circumvent the law of the land, they are also defunding CHIP, trying to close down clinics that treat women and babies, like PP, preventing medicaid expansion for millions of poor Texans, most of whom are women and children, preventing a living wage from being made law, diverting public school monies into private charter schools, and trying to limit as much as possible tax dollars that would go to help women in economic and domestic distress. When we see them begin to do something for the real LIVES of babies and mothers in this state, we can then refer to them as pro-life. As it stands, they are just pro- suffering, rape, abandonment, starvation, illness, and of course, pro-sanctimony.
Mimi Miller via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This is hard for women and families.
Michael Greenburg via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Look! It's really for the children! Way to go Texas!
Cyndee Malowitz via Texas Tribune on Facebook
While I'm very much opposed to second and third trimester abortions, as most people are, I believe it should be the woman's decision during the first few weeks of pregnancy. I worry about what these women might do out of desperation. It's not a perfect world and I would hate for women to start getting back alley abortions again.
Dan Villanueva via Texas Tribune on Facebook
What should concern the "pro-life" folks is the lack of access to affordable cancer and health screenings for adult women that these clinics provided. Pro-birth or pro-life?
Rob Browne via Texas Tribune on Facebook
If gun sales were restricted to just 8 shops in Texas, I wonder how many here would be talking about their constitutional rights being abridged?
Marjorie Wells via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This broke my heart so much, knowing that the state of Texas does not care about women and this asinine law will kill women.