Abortion rights protesters head to court to face new charges
A dozen protesters arrested and released during July’s abortion protests at the Capitol appeared before a Travis County judge Friday to face new charges stemming from the demonstrations, a move those protesters say is vindictive and retaliatory behavior by the Department of Public Safety.
“DPS has destroyed my life,” said Joshua Pineda, an abortion rights advocate who is now charged with disruption of a public meeting. “I lost my job. Shortly after that, I lost my apartment.”
The new charges — delivered by summons to the protesters in late July — come amid scrutiny of the work done by state troopers during several days of rallies over legal restrictions on abortion that were eventually approved by the Legislature.
Earlier this week, the department released 144 pages of documents detailing its surveillance techniques and items confiscated at the Capitol. None of those documents provided evidence that troopers had confiscated more than a dozen bottles of urine and feces, as the department had stated at the time.
More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/abortion-rights-protesters-head-to-court-to-face-n/nZhMd/ .
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