Media Quotes + Clips

Media Quotes + Clips

Featured Interviews

The 19th: How the $1 billion Texas school voucher program could have a nationwide ripple effect

“Republicans have sold people a lie,” Witt said. “They’ve said repeatedly that it won’t harm public schools, and there’s just no way that it won’t. And I do think that’s their goal. I genuinely think that their goal is to eliminate public education, and this is the first step there. A year from now, people are going to see that the neighborhood schools in their communities are shuttering or having to cut resources for students, and they’re going to be really upset. And I think that there’s going to be hell to pay at the ballot box.”

On-Camera Interviews

KVUE: Gov. Abbott issues letter, stating Texas 'only recognizes two sexes'

"This is a performative action," said Emily Witt with the Texas Freedom Network. "There is no piece of paper or order that can change the fact that trans and nonbinary people have always existed, and they will always exist."
*For LGBTQ+ advocates, it is a familiar attack and a "red meat" issue designed to score political points with the Republican base by "scapegoating vulnerable communities."*
*"These are all just distractions, but at the same time, they are real threats to people who exist in Texas and deserve to be safe and embraced in our state," Witt said.*

NBC 4: Controversial Texas abortion court case brings questions to the ban's language

"We're seeing that there is really no respect for sanctity of life from the people who keep saying that they value life so much," Emily Witt, communications and media strategist for the Texas Freedom Network, said.
In Texas there is a near total abortion ban outside of a medical exception when the mother is, “at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced.”
*The Texas supreme court ruled that Cox did not meet that criteria.*
*"This case certainly shows us that no one is immune from abortion bans," Witt said.*

KXAN: Parents left without answers after physicians at Dell Children’s Adolescent Medicine clinic ‘depart’

Emily Witt with the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates for LGBTQ rights, said investigations like the one launched by the Attorney General could have ripple effects on children’s medicine across the state.

"When we pass laws like this, we keep talented, competent, passionate doctors from wanting to work in Texas because their ability to live up to their oath, to serve their patients — is becoming illegal,” Witt said.

KSAT: Some religious leaders, civil rights groups oppose new school counselor law

“It’s very egregious to us that after the deadliest school shooting in Texas public schools, only almost a year ago, we wouldn’t be using these funds to keep our kids safe from being shot in our schools. But instead, we would be hiring religious leaders, which violates the religious freedom of Texas families and students while not actually keeping them safe,” Witt said.

NBC 5: Parents want history taught with no political ideology as PragerU eyes Texas classrooms

“For a member to come out and say that they're going to be in Texas schools when they haven't gone through proper channels, as an elected official is really worrisome. You know, looking at the educational materials, they're not educational materials, they're propaganda," said Emily Witt, of the Texas Freedom Network, a watchdog of the far right.

Print Interviews

Texas Tribune: Texas Senate approves bill changing how schools select library books

“Parents do have the right to control the education of their children, absolutely, but I think that creating laws like this and stoking fear in parents puts out the message that it’s not okay for their kids to learn about people who are different from them,” Witt said. “I think that does a disservice to parents as well.”

Texas Observer: ‘IT’S ABOUT CENSORSHIP, ERASURE, AND CONTROL’: THE GOP’S PUSH FOR PARENTAL RIGHTS

“School boards and boards of trustees have been infiltrated by a lot of right-wing politicians,” said Witt, of the Texas Freedom Network. “By using the board of trustees to implement pieces of anti-LGBTQ and anti-DEI law, it makes it really clear that this bill is not about parental rights, but it’s about pushing forth a political agenda.”

Dallas Observer: Sex Education Curriculum in Texas Leaves Much to Be Desired, Advocates Argue

*"Teens have even less access to deciding their futures and their pregnancy outcomes than ever, honestly, in the state of Texas." – Emily Witt, Texas Freedom Network*

Chron: Kate Cox abortion ruling isn't enough for Texas' Christian activists

Abortion advocates like Emily Witt, a 30-year-old spokesperson for Texas Freedom Network, an Austin-based advocacy group partnering with churches statewide that believe abortion is "a moral and social good," said that Cox faced life-threatening risks if she continued with the pregnancy.
"There's really not an exception in this ban," Witt said. "The language is so vague and that's intentional so that people can't actually ever get the care that they need, because life is not really the thing that they're trying to defend here. They're trying to control women's bodies."

Contact Emily

ewitt.lynn@gmail.com
Austin, TX