Blog Against Theocracy

Texas State Representative Warren Chisum made national news in February by endorsing the idea that teaching the theory of evolution in public schools is unlawful: Copernicus got it all wrong, and the rumor that the Earth rotates around the Sun is only a Kabbalistic plot. His hasty assertion that it was all a misunderstanding is belied by his effort to force Texas high schools to teach a Bible curriculum full of misrepresentations and outright lies.

Chisum's stunning ignorance of science and American history is surpassed by his bland disregard for the lethal nature of another of his current initatives. Should Roe v. Wade be overturned, Chisum's HB 175 would make abortion a crime. Illegal abortion currently kills at least 68,000 women each year — somewhere in the world, another woman dies in the time it takes to read this story — but for Warren Chisum, that's not worth worrying about.

Martin Luther showed no concern about pregnancy's horrific death toll among women of the 16th Century: "If they become tired or even die, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth, that's why they are there." And in some quarters, religious opinion on that subject hasn't changed much in the intervening 500 years. According to Warren Chisum, it's expected that women die from illegal abortion: "I'm not sure that doesn't happen even today. I suspect women try things on their own."

Yes, he really said that. I heard him.