Texas Governor Rick Perry suggested that his strict anti-abortion law requiring clinics to pass his standards for them to continue operating could have saved the life of late Joan Rivers since she died at a clinic in New York.
Perry talked at the Texas Tribune Festival held in Austin on Sunday and when he was asked about his anti-abortion law, he linked the death of Rivers in order to defend the bill he has passed that is being opposed by many.
According to the governor, his law will be shutting down clinics that will be reported to have caused complications on their patients.
He cited the death of Rivers caused by a procedure on a clinic. Rivers reportedly undergone a throat surgery and later a doctor performed a biopsy on her without her knowledge. Reports say that due to the biopsy, air has been blocked from her lungs causing the cardiac arrest that sent her to a coma.
Perry then said that it was a curious thought that if New York also had the same types of regulations he did for his state, would Rivers still be alive?
Although people saw the connection of Rivers' death to the bill recently passed, some of the pro-abortion supporters have raised their eyebrows on the said comparison of the governor.
Heather Busby, the executive director of Pro-Choice Texas, sent an email saying that complications do happen in all areas of medicine. There is a "risk" in almost everything such as having a heart attack during a wisdom tooth removal and eventually dying, she noted.
She even sarcastically asked if dental procedures should also be banned from the state referencing the example she earlier talked about.
The law that Kerry passed, known as "HB2", has made Texas safer according to him since over 30 abortion clinics have already been shut down because they did not meet the standards that the government has set. Only seven are said to be functional to date.
A judge from the U.S. District, Lee Yeakel, voiced out his opinion about the anti-abortion law saying that Texas abortion clinics already spent millions of dollars just to upgrade their clinics in order for it to be "safe". However, due to this, the judge pointed out that these clinics will still be accessible defeating the purpose of the law.
Also, opponents of Perry noted that out of 500 deaths related to pregnancy from 2008-2012, only one was attributed to abortion.