Rick Perry cites Joan Rivers' death to support controversial abortion law
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R ) on Sunday said Joan Rivers would perhaps be alive if New York had similar legislation to Texas. The specific legislation he was referring to: A law that could close all but seven of the state's abortion clinics.
"It was interesting that Joan Rivers and the procedure that she had done, where she died, that was a clinic," Perry said at the Texas Tribune festival. "It's a curious thought, that if they had that type of regulations in place whether or not that individual would be still alive."
Last year, Perry signed into law a bill imposing some of the nation's toughest abortion restrictions, including a provision requiring clinics to meet the same standards as hospitals.
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Rivers died after going into cardiac arrest while undergoing throat surgery at a medical clinic. New York investigators are probing the death.
