RNC For Life – Five Facts That Joe Straus is NOT Pro-Life

The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, JOE STRAUS, is being challenged in his bid to be re-elected to a second term as Speaker. In light of the huge sweep of the Texas House by conservative Republicans, Mr. Straus is moving to bolster his conservative credentials. In fact, he has an ad on the Drudge Report in which he is claiming to be PRO LIFE. With all due respect, Mr. Speaker, we have to cry foul on that.

Here are some of the reasons why we feel that Joe Straus is NOT pro-life and what you should do about this fact:

Straus has voted against pro-life principles in several instances, including:

1. Making it easier to perform late-term, third-trimester abortions (SB 419, vote 672 in 2005)
2. A public-school sex education bill which was supported by Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the ACLU. Some described it as allowing “Planned Parenthood to control sex education in Texas.” Rep. Straus co-authored HB 1842 in 2007. (His wife, Julie Brink Straus, was on the board of Planned Parenthood in the early 1990s.)
   (Texas Rebellion Gives a Centrist a Lift)
3. Co-authoring legislation legalizing Embryonic stem cell research and human cloning (Rep. Straus co-authored HB 2704 in 2007.)
4. As a State Representative in 2007, Straus received a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America.
5. Straus received a $1000 donation from Winning for Women, an organization which files PAC reports with Texas Ethics Commission as “Winning for Women: A PAC for the Government Affairs Council at Planned Parenthood of Southeast & South Central Texas.”

Clearly, Joe Strauss is NOT pro-life, and we would urge pro-life Texans to encourage their state representatives to consider that very carefully when they are making commitments to anyone who is running for speaker. It is expected that the Republicans will caucus to decide whom they wish to elect as speaker, rather than having just a few Republicans coalesce with the Democrats to select the speaker, as happened in the 2009 session where Straus was chosen. Both Ken Paxton from McKinney in Collin county and Warren Chisum from Pampa in West Texas are strong pro-life advocates and are also seeking the Speaker’s post.