By: Dave Lieber
I asked Amy O’Donnell, spokeswoman for Texas Alliance for Life, an anti-abortion group, what she thought of this unusual situation.
She replied, “While the penal code in Texas recognizes an unborn child as a person in our state, the Texas Transportation Code does not specify the same. And a child residing in a mother’s womb is not taking up an extra seat. And with only one occupant taking up a seat, the car did not meet the criteria needed to drive in that lane.”
By: Dianne Solis and Wendy Selene Pérez
At the Texas Alliance for Life, executive director Joe Pojman said his group will push the issue further in the 2024 presidential elections. Mailing or using couriers to bring in misoprostol and mifepristone is illegal, but he doesn’t see extradition of a foreigner happening.
“It is still illegal,” Pojman said. “It’s still a felony offense. But there is no way to extradite someone from Mexico or the Netherlands to stand trial in Texas, unless the Biden administration takes action.”
Pojman doesn’t see that happening with the Biden team, given the president’s position on Roe vs. Wade.
By: BeLynn Hollers
Rhonda Kay Moreland
Board member of Texas Alliance for Life and chairman of the board of directors of BirthChoice Dallas Pregnancy Center
Q1: I think the very first thing that I want every woman to know is that I come from a place of love and non-judgment. And that I’m here to have a conversation and I’m trying to empower women, to understand what I’ve learned about what I understand is the truth of life. And I think that there’s no judgement to anybody who’s had an abortion. We all have a story, we all have a past, but our past doesn’t define us. And so I’m in the movement as much for the women as I am for the babies.
Q2: If I could do something with somebody who thinks opposite than me on the abortion issue, it would be connecting women towards resources for help. I think that is probably a great starting point, is just connecting women with assistance in all aspects of their life.
By: Bellyn Hollers
Another organization which opposes abortions in the state, Texas Alliance for Life, said in a recent tweet that the decline in abortions in the state “has us celebrating.”
By: Emily Caldwell and BeLynn Hollers
In a statement by Texas Alliance for Life, the organization notes that “neither the United States Supreme Court nor the state district court considered the constitutionality of a pre-viability abortion ban, only the procedural questions related to the citizen enforcement of SB 8.”
“Regardless of whether the courts allow that law to continue, we hope the Supreme Court will reverse the terrible Roe v. Wade precedent so states can completely protect unborn babies from the tragedy of abortion. That could happen by next June when the Court rules on the Dobbs case, whose oral arguments they heard last week,” executive director Joe Pojman said.
By: Emily Caldwell
Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, was outside the court Wednesday morning and said he was excited to see both younger and more female anti-abortion demonstrators.
“From our side, I was quite impressed and heartened to see a fewer percentage of the people who were people like me, who’ve been involved for decades, older people,” Pojman said. “There’s just a lot of younger people in their 30s and 20s and a lot of college students, and probably more women than men. I was very heartened by all of that.”
Pojman said that from listening to the oral arguments, it seems clear to him that this Mississippi case is not just about a 15-week ban — it’s about whether Roe should stand at all. Pojman said it’s hard to know what the justices are thinking, but that he can imagine a post-Roe future in Texas.
“I can definitely imagine a world in June of 2022, in which five and maybe six [justices] vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade, but I am not certain of that,” Pojman said. “But if that does happen, we have the trigger ban, The Human Life Protection Act, that will be ready to go into effect, and we also have tremendous resources for women with unplanned pregnancies that are available.”