The current (and also second) special session of the Texas legislature called by Rick Perry in no small part to enact abortion restrictions temporarily halted by Sen. Wendy Davis’ filibuster has become as big a deal to Perry’s national allies as to Davis’. Indeed, it shows signs as becoming a sort of antichoicers’ Woodstock, a can’t-miss festival of fist-shaking rhetoric. Here’s the best indication, per CNN’s Paul Steinhauser:
Rick Santorum’s heading to Texas to put his support behind a controversial bill that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
According to a press release obtained by CNN that will be sent later Tuesday, Santorum will hold a news conference Thursday morning at the Texas state capitol in Austin.
Abortion has long been an important issue for the former senator from Pennsylvania and 2012 Republican presidential candidate. While in the Senate, Santorum was a leader in the efforts to pass anti-abortion legislation, including the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.
“Rick is going to Austin this week to join those in giving a voice to the unborn,” Republican strategist and senior Santorum adviser John Branbender told CNN.
What makes this interesting, of course, aside from its comic appeal to some of us, is that Rick Santorum has been making noises about reentering the presidential contest in 2016. Just yesterday Rick Perry took the step–foreswearing another gubernatorial term in 2014–necessary to clear the way for his own possible presidential comeback bid. If he is interested in this course of action, he can’t be happy to see the other Rick crash his high-profile antichoice party. Look for some interesting body language if they share a platform this week.
