Welcome to another edition of “Mystery No Science Theatre 3000.” In this episode, the Texas Department of State Health Services, (a place where medical evidence is given the same weight as the results of a Magic 8 ball) has approved a regulation that requires burials for ALL fetal tissue that comes from a miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or an abortion performed at a Texas healthcare facility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB29_Cn8dx8

And who benefits from this, you ask? The clinics? Nope. The Patients? Nope.
Weirdly, the only people it would benefit are funeral directors — and wait for it — they fought hard AGAINST the regulation because it’s well… CREEPY AND UNNECESSARY AF!
When the only people who stand to gain anything think it’s a bad idea and want nothing to do with it, one would think that the issue would be laid to rest, but not this group of zealots. Their motives are not based on anything other than creating yet another insane roadblock that puts undue financial burdens on clinics so they can no longer afford to stay open.

How this will affect pregnant people?

Well, because it is intentionally sketchy in detail and the regulation was vaguely written, it could put a woman having a miscarriage at home in a position of weighing whether or not she should go to a hospital because she isn’t sure if she will have to pay for a fetus funeral, if she decides to get the medical help she needs! Again, whose dignity do you care about again? Good Lord!

Now there is some good news: This Texas buffoonery was just put on hold until January thanks to a federal judge. But then comes January…

And bad news: This is not just a Texas thing.

Similar laws in Louisiana and Indiana have also been passed and shot down in court. But that doesn’t give anti-choice lunatics a moment’s pause. They’ll keep churning out regulations like this until they find a court that will let it stand. And with President-elect Donald Trump, that court may well be the Supreme Court.

I started my non-profit, Lady Parts Justice, because I wanted to use humor along with my rage to expose legis-haters who keep throwing these unconstitutional (for now, at least) laws against the wall. Our latest video exposes the hypocrisy of this bullshit using the format of the show Shark Tank because we wanted to highlight what might happen if the anti-abortion activist who came up with this insanity had to sell it in the real world of corporate America versus her parallel universe of The Texas Department of Hate Services.

This latest bout of batshit regulation is laughable (and terrifying), but we want to do more than make you laugh — we want to make you aware and make you take action. Abortion rights and women’s rights in general are in peril like never before and LPJ wants to give you all the ammo you need to fight back, grab back, and have the backs of our wonderful abortion providers.



Lizz Winstead is co-creator of the Daily Show and founder of Lady Parts Justice.