Greg Abbott



Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, businessman, attorney, and former jurist serving since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015 and as a member of the Texas Supreme Court from 1996 to 2001. Abbott was elected governor in 2014 and re-elected in 2018.

Quotes

 * As we speak, you see the turmoil in Greece, Spain, Italy, and other European nations because of the consequences of too many entitlements, too much bureaucracy, too much governmental interference with the free enterprise system. You can look at the state of California, which is on a pathway to destruction because they expanded government too much, thinking that there would always be someone to pay for it.
 * Greg Abbott’s War (September 2012)


 * I continue to believe that we can fight this overreach from within the existing system and framework. If I have to, I will use one challenge after another to dismantle governmental operations that I consider violations of the Constitution. During my time as a judge, as a justice, and as attorney general, I’ve had one overarching goal, and that is a strict interpretation and application of the laws and the Constitution. I would be Madisonian.
 * Greg Abbott’s War (September 2012)


 * I'm EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans. @NRA
 * Tweet (October 28, 2015), as cited in "Did Gov. Greg Abbott Urge Texans To 'Pick Up the Pace' in Acquiring Guns?" Snopes (May 25, 2022).


 * The situation happening in New York is far different than what is happening in Texas and other places. For example, there will be unfortunately, more people who pass away in one day in New York than we will have in Texas in the entirety of this whole pandemic situation.
 * FOX News Interview (April 18, 2020)


 * It doesn’t require that at all [force a rape or incest victim to carry a pregnancy to term] because obviously it provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion, so for one it doesn’t [require] that. That said, however, let’s make something very clear. Rape is a crime and Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets
 * Greg Abbott Claims Texas's No-Exception Abortion Law is Fine Because He's Going to Eliminate Rape, by Bess Levins, Vanity Fair (September 7, 2021)


 * Why do we audit everything in this world, but people raised their hands in concern when we audit elections, which is fundamental to our democracy?
 * Interview with Fox News according to ‘Mad Dash’: Trump’s demand for a Texas ‘audit’ caught Gov. Abbott off guard (September 26, 2021)


 * COVID-19 vaccines are strongly encouraged for those eligible to receive one, but must always be voluntary for Texans.
 * "Texas governor bans COVID-19 vaccine mandate by any 'entity'" (October 12, 2021)


 * People need to understand that in the aftermath of the Santa Fe shootings, I signed 17 laws to address school safety.
 * Comments at a news conference (May 25, 2022), cited in "Weakened gun laws put Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on the defensive" The Washington Post (May 25, 2022)
 * The news conference followed the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas


 * I've announced a $50K reward for info on the criminal who killed 5 illegal immigrants Friday.
 * Tweet (April 30, 2023) about the victims in the 2023 Cleveland, Texas shooting as cited in "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Sparks Outrage After Referring to Mass Shooting Victims as 'Illegal Immigrants'" People (May 1, 2023).
 * People reported one of the individuals killed was not an illegal immigrant and one of the others was a 9 year-old child.

Quotes about Greg Abbott

 * Greg Abbott has been in the same boat as Donald Trump and governors like Ducey in Arizona and DeSantis in Florida. It’s this putting right-wing ideology over the public health and science. when he reopened the state in early May, he made three mistakes, reopening too early. When they reopened, they didn’t have the two things in place that public health experts tell us you need to have in place, which was robust testing and robust contact tracing. In fact, at the time, Texas ranked 48th per capita in terms of the number of tests that were happening. And then, third, when communities across the state begged the governor to be able to tailor their own safety precautions, require masks or do other things, the governor said, “No, my order supersedes you. You can’t do that,” opened up the bars and restaurants, and then basically made it worse here in the state of Texas for everybody, and has hurt the economy because of that — and admitted, for instance, that he made a mistake in opening the bars up too early. So, it’s just, you know, we can’t rely — in the middle of a global pandemic, you cannot rely on people that are putting their own political ideology and interests ahead of basic science and the public health. That is in nobody’s interest. That’s exactly what Greg Abbott has done.
 * Julian Castro Interview with Democracy Now (August 2020)


 * Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., slammed Abbott in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday, saying he lacks basic knowledge of biology. "I'm sorry we have to break down Biology 101 on national television, but in case no one has informed him before in his life, six weeks pregnant means two weeks late for your period," Ocasio-Cortez said. "And two weeks late on your period ... can happen if you're stressed, if your diet changes or for really no reason at all. So you don't have six weeks."
 * Fact Check: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Misleading Remarks On The State's Abortion Law, Rachel Treisman, NPR (September 8, 2021)


 * Ocasio-Cortez also took issue with Abbott's comments on rape, noting that the majority of people who are raped or sexually assaulted are assaulted by someone whom they know. The anti-sexual violence nonprofit RAINN says 8 out of 10 rapes are committed by someone known to the victim.  "These aren't just predators that are walking around the streets at night. They are people's uncles, they are teachers, they are family friends, and when something like that happens, it takes a very long time, first of all, for any victim to come forward," Ocasio-Cortez added. "And second of all, when a victim comes forward, they don't necessarily want to bring their case into the carceral system."
 * Fact Check: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Misleading Remarks On The State's Abortion Law, Rachel Treisman, NPR (September 8, 2021)


 * Texas Governor Greg Abbott has used the crisis as a way to attack the Green New Deal by falsely claiming the state’s partial reliance on renewable energy was to blame for the blackouts... Meanwhile, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to Governor Abbott’s claim by writing, quote, “The real 'deadly deal' is his failed leadership.”
 * Amy Goodman, Fossil Fuel Shock Doctrine: Naomi Klein on Deadly Deregulation & Why Texas Needs the Green New Deal, Democracy Now! (22 February 2021)


 * Responding to withering public criticism of the state's chaotic and disastrous response to a killer winter storm, Abbott fumed, "What happened this week to our fellow Texans is absolutely unacceptable."... Abbott pointed his outrage at ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the agency charged with maintaining a reliable flow of electricity... But wait... ERCOT merely administers policies set by the Public Utility Commission... And who appointed the three members of that commission? Why, Greg, it was you! In fact, the chairwoman and one of the two other members of PUC are former top staffers of the governor... Abbott has been governor for six years, and not once has he proposed legislation to require that the corporate owners of electric utilities protect the grid from freezes... he also claims that the 2021 winter vortex was unprecedented and therefore couldn't have been anticipated. Oops ... wait again. A notorious rolling grid failure in a 2011 snowstorm left millions of Texans in deadly darkness.
 * Jim Hightower "What the Texas Deep Freeze Revealed About Corporate-Run Government", Common Dreams (24 February 2021)


 * Abbott is claiming that because the law allows for abortion up to six weeks, it’s not forcing anyone to do anything. As doctors, people who’ve been pregnant before, and people who’ve bothered to read a book on the subject before crafting legislation on it have noted, by the time a person misses her first period, she’s already roughly four weeks pregnant. That means that under Texas law, someone would have no more than two weeks, not six, to determine she’s pregnant and decide whether or not to get an abortion. Even in the case of people who are actively trying to get pregnant, that window can narrow even further for numerous reasons including if they have irregular cycles. Usually, then, one would make an appointment with a doctor to confirm the pregnancy, and as Abbott may or may not know, health care in American is not the greatest, so she may not be able to be seen for several weeks. And that hugely generous two weeks is not only a joke for many people actively trying to have a child, but for the majority of people who are not.
 * Greg Abbott Claims Texas's No-Exception Abortion Law is Fine Because He's Going to Eliminate Rape, by Bess Levins, Vanity Fair (September 7, 2021)


 * During a press conference Tuesday, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott defended his state's controversial new abortion law and misleadingly suggested it contains protections for victims of rape or incest... Abbott's response is misleading, at best. The law's stipulation banning abortions after six weeks does not necessarily mean six weeks from the incident, in the case of rape or incest victims. Doctors date pregnancies from the first day of the individual's last menstrual cycle not from ovulation or "conception." As a result, under the new Texas law, those seeking abortions have less than six weeks to do so. Abbott attempted to caveat his comments Tuesday by highlighting that "rape is a crime," though the bill has no exception for it. Under SB8, the only possible exemption is for "medical emergency." Otherwise, abortion is prohibited when a fetal heartbeat is detected, though the flickering identified as a fetal heartbeat on an ultrasound at that time is really just electrical activity and the sound is made by the ultrasound machine itself. Even at six weeks, doctors say an ultrasound is not detecting a functional heart. And it's worth noting that the fetal heartbeat used as the abortion cutoff in this bill often occurs before people know they are pregnant.
 * Fact Check: Texas abortion law doesn't give full 6 weeks to get an abortion, by Tara Subramaniam,CNN, (September 9, 2021)
 * Jennifer Kerns, associate professor at University of California San Francisco and an OB-GYN, told CNN, "Saying that someone has six weeks to access abortion is completely misleading. When we say six weeks pregnant what that actually means is six weeks from the last menstrual period... So it doesn't actually mean the person has been pregnant for six weeks.
 * Fact Check: Texas abortion law doesn't give full 6 weeks to get an abortion, by Tara Subramaniam,CNN, (September 9, 2021)


 * Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is again under fire for his state's restrictive new abortion law, after falsely claiming it does not force victims of rape or incest to give birth even though it prohibits abortions after about six weeks — which is before many people even know they're pregnant... Abbott was asked about forcing a rape or incest victim to carry their pregnancy to term. He misleadingly replied that the law does not require that. "...it provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion, and so, for one, it doesn't provide that," Abbott said... In fact, the countdown for those six weeks starts from the first day of a person's last period (not the "expected" period that was missed), leaving many with only about one or two weeks to end the pregnancy, if that, under the new law.
 * Fact Check: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Misleading Remarks On The State's Abortion Law, Rachel Treisman, NPR (September 8, 2021)


 * Governor Abbott’s doctor prescribed Regeneron's monoclonal antibody therapy treatment, which is available at no cost to all Texans who get a doctor’s referral. It is recommended that Texans testing positive for COVID-19 seek this antibody therapeutic drug because of its effectiveness to help keep people out of hospitals. Today, the Governor announced the continued expansion of COVID-19 Antibody Infusion Centers across Texas. That is in addition to more than 140 providers that are providing antibody treatment at hospitals and clinics across the state.
 * "Office Of The Governor Statement On COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibody Treatment" (August 19, 2021)


 * I can understand perhaps what the governor is trying to do, but I think when you're in a public health crisis, sometimes unusual situations require unusual actions.  And in this case, it's things like mandating, be they mask or vaccinations, they're very important. We're not living in a vacuum as individuals. We're living in a society, and society needs to do to be protected, and you do that by not only protecting yourself but by protecting the people around you by getting vaccinated.
 * Anthony Fauci in Fox News Sunday (October 17, 2021) transcript+video