As Goes Texas, So Goes America

fuck around and find out. This pack is dedicated to going after the three Texas Supreme Court Justices Jimmy, John, and Jane who have come for the reproductive rights of women and people with uteruses inside of the state of Texas.

And you know, I think that what strikes me so much in the conversation with Gina is that in order for us to win, we really truly need to understand where the power actually lies, right and so for far too long we have believed as Democrats that the power lied in the executive branch, in the presidency, and so we pay attention every four years, and in between that

time we go back to business as usual. Well, what we've been able to truly grasp over the last eight or so years under trumpsm is that that is not where power lies actually, and that power lies in the courts, power lies in the election of attorney generals and district

attorneys and ultimately the appointment of judges. Right because what we know about Congress, for instance, is that their wheels turn incredibly fucking slow, and that most of our rights that we are still hanging onto were one in court battles. So then why wouldn't our attention be directed at the very courts that decide our fates. So I love this conversation with Gina because the find Out Pack is very clear about who they are targeting, how they are targeting,

and are going full throttle. And that is what I want people to be doing, state by state, right, district by district, or Steve Bannon said, village by village, flood the zone right, going after these seats of power that have long been held by Republicans without objection. And now that we know that they are not to be trusted. Right now that we know and they make no you know, mix up of their intentions for this country, it's time

that we understand how power works. So coming up next, my conversation with Gina Ortiz Jones, Folks, I am very excited to welcome to wok F Daily Gina Ortiz Jones, who is the founder of the find Out Political Action Committee, and served during the Biden administration as Undersecretary of the Air Force from July twenty twenty one to March twenty

twenty three. Gina, I want to start with the fact that a couple of weeks ago we saw a horrific report GRAB headlines that since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, there has been sixty thousand plus rape based pregnancies in the fourteen states that have denied abortion, even in the case of rape, in the case of incest, in the

case of fetal abnormalities and non viability. I wanted to get your thoughts on that astounding number and the ramifications thereof that we've seen in such a short time of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

in this country calls Texas home. And you know, the reason I really wanted to, you know, start this pack is in part based on what the Texas Supreme Court just decided, but also understanding that, look, you know, ascoes Texas, so goes this country. Right. Texas traditionally been kind of training ground, a greeting ground, if you will, for some of the more extremest policies that are exten exported to

other parts of the country. And so I think it's always really important to aggregate the data and truly understand. I mean that just one of the states is responsible for almost half of these in light of as you mentioned, you know, they're not not being any exceptions in the state, for with exception of the metal, which now is even in debate given the Texas Supreme Court's decision in December, you know.

nationalize these types of laws. And when you look at the case of and I want to of Kate Cox, and Kate Cox, you know, making national headlines when she went to go seek an abortion because she had a non viable pregnancy, this fetus not going to make it, and a panel of judges told her no, right, And I just want to get your reactions to some of

the stories. We've heard women testify before Congress, we've heard them in press conferences, and yet for these you know, largely white male bodies, whether it is the Missouri you know, Senate, whether it is the Texas governor, nothing seems to penetrate.

the medical exception. So I took the time to actually read the seven page Texas Supreme Court ruling, and essentially what they said is that this woman was not close enough to losing either her life or losing her fertility to qualify for the exception. So obviously I had a very visceral reaction to that because it just it raises some very basic questions, right, which is one, Okay, well, how close is close enough? We talk in hours, we talk in minutes. But also, who are y'all you know

these partisan judges? And we are one of the few states where we actually elect our judges and justices to include the Texas Supreme Court, through partisan elections, And so who are you, these partisan justices to say that you know better than her doctor, much less anyone else's doctor. And then for me, the last question was, all right, well, how do we get this better? Because this is not right? And in looking at the the nine justices, they are

all Republican. They run as statewide folks, statewide candidates. These folks are elected, which means they can be unelected, Danielle, And that is what we are, that is what we're working to do. I think, you know, we're very encouraged. This is the first time ever, this is the first time ever that we have tried to change the makeup of the Texas Supreme Court. These folks that have never had kind of this type of focus and attention that they will come twenty twenty four due to find out.

Pack Secondly, we are encouraged also by what we are seeing in states like Kansas and Kentucky, you know, states that have very similar political compositions, if you will, to our own state. And even in those states, when the issue was put before voters, voters overwhelmingly voted to protect reproductive freedoms. And so our ballot initiative is a little bit different in that we are going to hold Jimmy,

John and Jane accountable. That's actually their names, just Jimmy Blacklock, John Devine, and Jane Bland accountable for the ways in which they have made it more dangerous to be a woman in Texas and by the reproductive freedoms of so

many women. And then lastly, let me just say, I know, you know, I know folks are like they hear these stories coming out of Texas, but let's be very clear, there is a difference between where these partisan justices are on this issue and where Texans are on this issue. So in February of twenty twenty three, there was a survey that was published by Survey Results Rather that was published by the University of Houston, the Hobby School of Public Affairs, and in that the results eighty two percent

of Texans survey support medical exceptions. I mean, it's not even close, right, And so I think when we put this and talk about this as a valid initiative, this is, you know, for folks that are pissed off or how these women have been treated, this is their opportunity to have their voice heard. And it starts with flipping those seats Jimmy John and Jane and you know, if i'm I also, I think it's really important. So it's the

issue itself. But as I was also looking into the backgrounds of these folks, Danielle, Yeah, they're just not fit.

They're just not fit for the Texas Supreme Court. I think, you know, you and I grew up probably with the same visual of justice, which is a woman in a rowe blindfolded, holding the scale right, impartial, and it's about the facts, and that's just not what we have on the Texas Supreme Court, let alone in Jimmy John and Jane and I say their names just to be clear for folks that they say their names, because these are the three that are on the ballot in November twenty

twenty four. So let me give you a snippet of these folks. In twenty eighteen, at a Texas rally for Life, Governor Abbott said about John Divine, quote, I don't have to guests or wonder how just Blacklock is going to decide cases because of his proven record of fighting for pro life causes. Right, that's one John Divine. This guy's real special. This guy has campaigned, campaigned on his own wife's tyris pregnancy. He's campaigned on being arrested dozens of

times for protesting in front of abortion clinics. And then Jane Bland, she wrote an opinion in a separate case where the Texas Supreme Court ruled that anti abortion groups could not be held liable for defamation for equating abortion

to murder. So can you, I mean, just like you, try to put yourself in the shoes of these women that are going through the justice system and in good faith trying to seek justice through by the way, on top of this very traumatic experience that they have already personally experienced, they are their family members, and then they go through the court system, and then they find out that these three among the others are the ones that

are going to hear their case. Like that doesn't instill any level of confidence in terms of impartiality or them even having a fair share a justice here. Right, So I think we've got a real opportunity. These folks run statewide and again encouraged by one where Texans are on the issue, but also what we've seen in other states.

given their own prejudices. Right. This is what it means to have activist judges. They use that term on those that are progressive, but this is what it means to be an activist judge. That you don't listen to cases that you decide them based on whatever the Bible right

tells you to decide on. And I wonder, you know, for eu GENA, Texas in a lot of ways, I think has not received the kind of investment that it needs from the Democratic Party, and that we have seeded these red states and said well, there's nothing we can do here, right, And because of our lack of investment, they have become a breeding ground and fertile ground to

forward these draconian style policies. And so I wonder where you think that the Democratic Party as a whole as we head into the twenty twenty four presidential election, as these people are going to be on the ballot, what responsibility the party has in creating the apparatus that needed and necessary and well funded in order in order to turn a state like Texas around.

this is this is ridiculous. So that's where the name comes from. But I think to your point, you know this is this is not a partisan issue, and I know, I know we're kind of couching it that way as we head into twenty twenty four. But like being able to listen to your doctor and being able to make decisions about your your own fertility, being able to make decisions about about your own about the ability to save

your own life, none of that stuff is partisan. Even though the two parties are are in very different camps on this doesn't make it inherently a partisan issue, right. I mean that probably speaks more to the values of the parties themselves. And you know, we have deliberately talked about this issue, frankly on the merits of the issue, because it is the way I think in which we reach the most people. Again, eighty two percent of folks,

eighty two percent of Texans support medical exceptions. I mean that's a I don't think there's a lot of things that eighty two percent of Texans agree on, but talking about the issue. I think is also the way in which we are able to one show the contrast and and when we are talking about engaging kind of young folks in particular, I think we see that, you know, data shows that they're more motivated by the issue than they are by political party or ideology. And so you know,

let's be very clear. And that's why you know, for folks that haven't seen the video yet our launch chat, please going to find out pack dot com. And we are very clear about what is at stake here and why this is so important, right and would welcome folks

to support. I think the more we can talk about what is at stake here and less about party and less about ideology, I think will be more will be more successful should we And I think what we are also encouraged by, you know, there's some potential for some reverse coattails here to your point. You know, I think we're all uh, you know, kind of reading reading articles about kind of black enthusiasm at the at the top

of the ticket. So look, it's all hands on deck, right to make sure that we've got leaders up and down, up and down the ballot they're going to fight for reproductive freedoms and frankly not be a threat to democracy. So I think you're but you're absolutely right. All that takes investment, and so I think by being creative, thinking outside of the box, you know, hope to attract that investment here in Texas, because again, one intent kid, like

one intent kids in this country, calls Texas home. You cannot write off ten percent of our ten percent of our future.

what is at stake. But two, you know President Biden, while he has made abortion a campaign issue, right and an important one, he said recently that I'm a Catholic and don't think that abortion should be used, you know, it should be used, you know, regularly. But I think that the reversal of Rob Wade was wrong. I'm paraphrasing, but he said that, and you know, abortion rights activists are completely dismayed by it, and I wanted to get your reactions from that statement and how it land.

to listen to your doctor. I mean not only just listen to your doctor, Danielle, but even you know, there's stories in Texas anecdotally of you know, doctors even being fearful of providing information to the person so that they can make the decision. Right. So that is that's really what is happening. And we are seeing unfortunately, kind of where this where this takes, where these policies take you what they look like. And obviously that's not where that's

not where Texans are. I'm sure that's not where most Americans are either, But it just strikes me, as you know, as an Air Force veteran Iraq War veteran that you know in the land of the Home, the land of the free, the home of the brave, that this is something that we are even discussing right women having to flee their states, living in fear right as they go seek reproductive care that is not available in their state to save their life and takes to save their their

their fertility. So I think, look, let's keep the main thing, the main thing, which is women should be able to make decisions about their own bodies. And there's one person for there's one person running for president that believes that. So I mean, this is a it's a we can we can make it a ten second discussion or it can be a ten hour discussion. But at the end of the day, there's one person running for president that believes that.

That's that's my my short answer to that. I just complacency, I think is very dangerous, certainly heading into twenty twenty four, and to think about what could be possible under a second term of Donald Trump. I mean now that he's you know, figured out, you know who's on his side is not, has a better understanding of the rules, I think he and he's been very clear right about the type of people he'd bring in and the things he would focus on, and even his rhetoric now is much

more dangerous a kin obviously to Nazi speak. So we should take nothing for granted, and certainly that applies to the reproductive freedom space.

Dot FindOut pack dot com is where folks can go and make a donation in any amount that they would like. And really appreciate the support. And again we're not hopeless or hopeless in Texas and this is our ballot initiative, so really appreciates folks with support to help us out.