Former Texas Sen. Wendy Davis to talk at Planned Parenthood fundraiser in Naples

Feb. 03--Keep the momentum going from the recent marches because the risks to women's health freedoms are great now, former Texas Sen. Wendy Davis said.

"This administration is moving very quickly and it is going to happen," Davis said. "I hope it is a wake-up call to Republican women. I hope they understand their voices at the ballot box are a key part of pushing back against them."

Davis, a Democrat who gained national prominence in 2013 for her 11-hour filibuster against an abortion-restrictions bill in Texas, will be the keynote speaker Saturday at the annual dinner of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida. The fundraiser will be at the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club.

From the conservative perspective, Charles Krauthammer, a FOX News contributor and syndicated columnist in more than 400 newspapers, will be the speaker Saturday for a scholarship fundraiser for the Ave Maria School of Law.

He plans to talk about President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office and other issues. The law school event will be at the Naples Grande Beach Resort.

Speaking Friday from Texas, Davis said women of all ages and political parties who believe in women's rights to health care and to reproductive freedom need to let their voices be heard.

Republican women who support Planned Parenthood and the right to abortion have not made put their stances on these issues as their top priority when they vote, Davis said. They no longer should think nothing will come to pass on abortion rights' being stripped or Planned Parenthood being harmed, she said.

The Trump administration and Republican-led Congress are moving full course to defund Planned Parenthood, even though no federal dollars are used for abortion, she said.

Trump's nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court and likely appointment puts the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade federal abortion ruling on shaky ground, she said. That federal protection of abortions rights could fall if Trump makes another appointment to the Supreme Court.

"The demise of Roe, in my mind, is almost certain," she said.

That would leave abortion rights to states. Incremental restrictions that some states have taken already have had severe repercussions for vulnerable lower-income women, she said.

What happened in Texas is clear proof. When abortion restrictions were passed in 2013, more than half of the state's clinics offering abortion closed, Davis said.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Texas abortion restrictions in June 2016, but the harm from the 2013 law still is being felt.

"Not a single clinic has reopened," she said. "It's going to be a slow rebuild."

Clinics serving women for their health care and for abortion access stayed open in the urban areas but not in the rural parts of the state.

"So if you are a woman in rural parts of south or west Texas, you have to travel 100-plus miles in order to access (a clinic)," she said.

Coupled with a 24-hour wait and sonogram requirements, rural women have to spend the night in the city before they can have an abortion.

"It is cost-prohibitive to a lot of women," she said.

Another consequence of the health care funding cuts has been the maternal death rate has doubled in Texas, Davis said.

After an unsuccessful run for governor of Texas in 2014, Davis launched Deeds Not Words, based in Austin. It's a national platform for women to act on what they are passionate about.

That could be to fight sexual assault on college campuses, for gender equality, for economic freedom or to help women in leadership roles, she said.

Young women are passionate, informed and realize what's at stake if they don't take a stand, Davis said.

The massive turnout at the women's marches across the country Jan. 21 -- the day after Trump's inauguration -- gives her optimism.

If there is staying power from the marches and women continue to rise up and be heard, that could translate to some Republicans who are not for women's rights being voted out during elections two years from now, she said.

Planned Parenthood in Collier County merged in 2015 with Planned Parenthood in Southwest Florida, which includes Fort Myers and Sarasota, and with affiliates in Orlando and Central Florida.

The regional organization operates 11 health centers with a combined budget of $16 million, according to program officials.

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