The Texas House of Representatives consists of 150 members. However, only 38 of those Representatives are female. I believe it is vital that more women are elected to the Texas House of Representatives, especially this year.
In overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court expressly stated that issues regarding abortion should be decided by the various state legislatures. It is obvious that the next legislative session in Texas will be dominated with women’s reproductive health decisions. Abortion is now effectively totally banned in Texas. Doctors, fearing threats of life in prison, cannot care for pregnant women carrying non-viable fetuses until the women are extremely ill. Patients suffering from arthritis can not be prescribed their normal prescriptions because those medications could terminate a pregnancy. If a young woman is raped, she can not speak to her pastor, priest or rabbi about her options because anyone in America could sue that spiritual advisor and receive a $10,000 judgment, plus attorney’s fees.
My opponent co-sponsored and voted for all of the bills that created this nightmare. All of these laws torture women after they have become pregnant, instead of preventing the unplanned pregnancy before it occurs. These laws also cause failed but wanted pregnancies to become life threatening situations. Doc Anderson is a retired doctor (veterinarian) and he has turned his back on medicine and science when he sponsored and voted for these bills. He also refused to listen to our local hospitals - Scott and White, Ascension Providence and Waco Family Medicine - when they requested that he vote to expand Medicaid during a Global Pandemic. This decision left 1.7 million Texans uninsured during the pandemic.
While Doc Anderson has served in the Texas House, his votes have resulted in our public schools being underfunded by $3,000.00 per student and our property taxes have increased by $20 billion since 2015. The Texas foster care system has been under the supervision of a federal judge and repeatedly fined for neglecting children the entire time Doc Anderson has been in office. McLennan County is a day care desert leaving many mothers unable to return to the workforce.
It is time for Doc to go.
A strong slate of women candidates for the Texas House are on the ballot on November 8th. They are moms, teachers, a minister, lawyers.....women ready to put their families and jobs aside and live in Austin for at least five months in 2023 to address these life threatening issues. I am one of those women. I have studied. I have listened. I have prayed. I am now ready to serve you in the Texas House of Representatives.
For the women of McLennan County, and the men who love them, please vote for Erin Shank for Texas House on November 8, 2022. Early voting starts on October 24th. If you are eligible to cast a ballot by mail, please contact the McLennan County Elections Office, either online or via phone, and request a mail in ballot now. If you are not registered to vote, please contact my campaign office at 254-900-7990 and we will get you registered to vote.
Vote for Erin Shank because We Deserve Better representation than Doc Anderson has given us in the Texas House of Representatives.
Published in the Waco Tribune-Herald on 9/11/2022