Seven pro-life bills advance through Texas Senate committee
(The Center Square) – Seven pro-life bills have advanced through the Texas state Senate Committee on State Affairs, chaired by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola.
“We’re proud to hear these bills, take important testimony from everyone who wants to testify, and move these bills forward to protect innocent human life,” Hughes said. “These bills do a number of things. They are about giving women all the information they need and all the support they need when they are facing a difficult pregnancy or an unplanned pregnancy.”
Of its nine members, six Republicans and one Democrat, Eddie Lucio Jr. of San Benito, whose bill was also passed, supported the measures; two Democrats voted against most of them.
The committee voted 7-2 in favor of six of the bills. All but one voted in favor of SB 802, filed by Sen. Angela Paxton, which requires counseling and other resources to be offered to someone seeking an abortion before the procedure is performed.
SB 8, the Texas Heartbeat Act, a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate, would make it illegal to have an abortion once the baby’s heartbeat is detected. It includes an exception for a medical emergency but not for rape or incest.
“Ten other states have passed heartbeat bills,” Hughes, one of the bill’s authors, said. “We have to admit Texas is behind. This bill will protect the lives of our most precious Texans starting at the moment that little heart is beating.”
Another Patrick priority is Senate Bill 9, which would ban nearly all abortions if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade or altered other abortion laws. Every year approximately 55,000 abortions are performed in Texas.
Senate Bill 650, filed by Sen. Donna Campbell, would prohibit local government officials from spending taxpayer money on logistical expenses related to abortion. The bill was submitted in response to the Austin City Council allocating taxpayer money to fund hotel rooms, transportation and childcare services for women seeking abortions.
SB 394, filed by Lucio, would prohibit chemical or pill-induced abortions after seven weeks of pregnancy. The Food and Drug Administration allows them to be used up to 10 weeks.
SB 1173, the Preborn Non-discrimination Act (PreNDA), filed by Sen. Kelly Hancock, would ban all late-term abortions and sex-selective abortions. It also would connect families with perinatal palliative care if their child has a disability.
SB 1647, the Texas Abolition Strategy Omnibus Bill, filed by Sen. Charles Perry, which includes PreNDA and the heartbeat bill, would ban elective abortions in the state of Texas by 2025. It also implements various pro-life policies by certain dates.
The bills now head to the full Senate for debate and a vote. If passed, they go to the House for a vote.
In the House, newly elected Jeff Cason, R-Bedford, filed a bill unlike previously filed bills, HB 2976, that would require facilities to provide death certificates for all aborted babies in Texas, regardless of weight or time of gestation.
“Even though these pre-born babies are, by all scientific definitions, living humans, current Texas law does not require a death certificate to be filed upon the elective termination of their life,” Cason said. “Every aborted baby in Texas should receive the respect they deserve through a formal death certificate – a certificate that is expected for any other Texan.”
Current state law requires that a fetal death certificate be filed only in cases in which the fetus weighs more than 350 grams or is more than 20 weeks old at the time of death. The Texas Health and Safety Code currently only requires death certificates be produced for stillbirths, not abortions.
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