Rick Perry: Texas Abortion Laws Might Have Saved Joan Rivers

Rick Perry: Texas Abortion Laws Might Have Saved Joan Rivers (Mediaite)

Texas Governor Rick Perry was asked at this weekend’s Tribune Fest about abortion bill HB2, which required the state’s clinics to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers. The bill caused half of Texas’ abortion clinics to shut down, which many critics believe was exactly the point.

Perry cited the death of comedian Joan Rivers, which occurred following complications during a minor throat procedure, as evidence for the importance of clinic safety.

“Clearly, the will of the Texas Legislature — which I agree with — that it is a state’s right to put particular types of considerations into place, to put rules and regulations into place, to make a clinic be as safe as a hospital,” Perry said. “It was interesting that, when Joan Rivers, and the procedure that she had done where she died — that was a clinic. It’s a curious thought that if they had had that type of regulations in place, whether or not that individual would be still alive.”