Wendy Davis’s Values or Texans’ Values?

“Wendy is such an impressive candidate whose values reflect the values of all Texans…” – San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro

As you have probably heard, Democrat State Senator Wendy Davis has announced that she is running for Governor of the great state of Texas. The liberal media and many outside the state of Texas (where most of her fundraising dollars are coming from) are certainly excited about her candidacy.  Her campaign announcement last week did not mention her most well-known legislative action – a filibuster this summer in support of late-term abortion. Something even some in the media thought was “conspicuously absent.”

Instead, according to her announcement, we are told that Davis is ready to fight for “our families” and according to her supporters, her values “reflect the values of all Texans…” At Texas Values, we seek to educate and advance a culture of family values in our state – one that values every human life, nurtures the family, and protects our religious liberty. These are values that most Texans share.

An important question that all Texans will be asking is does Wendy Davis’s record “reflect the values of all Texans”?

Let’s look at the record.

Davis’s View that Abortion is “Sacred”

Wendy Davis filibustering in support of late-term abortion.

It seems clear that Davis’ attention grabbing filibuster, that ultimately failed, and the coordinated effort with Planned Parenthood, NARAL, Occupy, the International Socialist Organization, and other pro-abortion organizations that mobbed the Texas Capitol, led to her running for Governor. Her strident support for abortion on demand is a defining issue that she has built her identify around.

The historic pro-life bill that Davis failed to stop, bans late-term abortions after 5 months when babies can feel pain, increases health and safety standards at abortion clinics, tightens usage guidelines for the abortion drug RU486, and requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic. These common-sense provisions are supported by a majority of Texans as they have repeatedly sent a strong pro-life majority to the Texas Legislature. In previous legislation sessions in 2009 and 2011, Davis also adamantly opposed the popular and life-saving Sonogram Law and even supported efforts to ensure that our tax-dollars fund Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion mill in the country.

The efforts and voting record of Wendy Davis show an extreme desire to protect the billion-dollar abortion industry over even the most common-sense safety precautions for women and babies. One thing is for sure, Wendy Davis’s view that abortion is “sacred ground” and her relentless effort to fight any effort to protect unborn children will ensure that the protection of innocent life will be a central issue in the campaign.

Davis’s Support of Special LGBT Rights and Drug-Based Sex-Education

LGBT activists love Wendy Davis and praise her for her long-time support of special rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Wendy Davis has authored so-called “anti-bullying” legislation with special LGBT protections (the legislation passed but had the special protections removed), and has worked closely with Equality Texas, a homosexual lobby group, in supporting the entirety of their anti-family agenda. Their agenda this past session even included a bill that would have attempted to remove mother and father references from birth certificates.

Further, as a state senator, Davis has voted to undermine our state’s abstinence focused approach to sex education that has seen Texas’ teen birth rate drop to historic lows. And in previous sessions, Davis has voted to undermine parental authority in supporting a controversial bill that would have removed parental consent concerning contraception for minor girls.

Davis’s Support of Obamacare

Davis has shown herself to be unequivocally supportive of Obamacare and even voted for the costly Medicaid expansion in Obamacare for Texas (that ultimately did not pass) that many have argued would have been a long-term financial disaster for our state.

Further, Obamacare’s promotion of abortion and its assault on religious liberty through the HHS mandate, have also given many people serious concerns that Obamacare will be a drain on our nation and state both fiscally and morally.

Davis’s Support of Using Government Power to Target (Conservative) Non-profits

Wendy Davis supported legislation this past session that was designed to silence and intimidate non-profits by requiring non-profits that attempt to engage in political speech to reveal the names of their donors. Not surprisingly, labor unions would have been exempt from the requirement. The bill had serious First Amendment constitutional concerns as the U.S. Supreme Court has frequently observed that forcing organizations to identify their donors infringes on their constitutional rights. We are currently witnessing the effects of the Obama IRS policy targeting conservative and religious non-profit organizations around the country.

While this is certainly just a cursory review of Wendy Davis’s record, it is interesting to note that she has been rated as one of the most liberal Senators in the Texas Senate by Rice University.

Do Wendy Davis’s values reflect all, or even most Texans? This is a question that we think Texans will answer in the coming months.

Photo: MSNBC