Dallas Morning News

Senate Bill 1033 would repeal language allowing a third-trimester abortion in cases of a severe fetal abnormality, meaning a life-threatening condition “incompatible with life outside the womb.” Further, the bill would bar an abortion at any time that’s requested due to the race, ethnicity or sex of a fetus, or due to the probability of having, or a diagnosis of, Down syndrome or a severe disability.

Both NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, which lobbies for abortion rights, and the Texas Alliance for Life, among anti-abortion groups, see legal weakness in the bill. Each group says restrictions on abortion before 20 weeks post-fertilization likely won’t survive court review.

“It will not survive a federal court challenge and will save no lives,” Pojman told alliance members in an online post. “The result will be more bad precedent and huge attorneys’ fees for the plaintiffs.” He added, though: “We hope that in coming years there will be enough votes on the Supreme Court to uphold a bill like this.”

The Texas Alliance for Life, another anti-abortion group, doesn’t oppose the bill, but it’s not recommending it. In April, it said it doesn’t think the bar on abortions before fetal viability can hold up in court. “It will not survive a federal court challenge and will save no lives. The result will be more bad precedent and huge attorneys’ fees for the plaintiffs,” the alliance’s Joe Pojman wrote. His post also said: “We hope that in coming years there will be enough votes on the Supreme Court to uphold a bill like this.” Texans for Life, another anti-abortion group, also has no position on the bill.

The Texas Alliance for Life, one of two anti-abortion groups that oppose Tinderholt’s plan, saluted Leach on Twitter on Thursday for reaffirming his decision not to help the legislation advance.

Joe Pojman of the Texas Alliance for Life, mindful that Republicans retain House and Senate majorities despite Democratic gains in November, said: “We still have the votes to get things done. The trick is to show this is still the will of the state — and I think it is.”

But Texans want abortion to remain legal and protected, said Yvonne Gutierrez of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes. Gutierrez noted a July Quinnipiac University poll indicating that voters by a wide margin back Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision supporting a woman’s right to an abortion — though 51 percent of Republican respondents disagreed with the decision.

More recently, a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll in February found 66 percent of Republicans and 15 percent of Democrats said abortion laws should be “more strict.”

The alliance and Texans for Life have prioritized a proposal not singled out by Patrick that would be triggered if the Supreme Court overturns abortion’s legality. Senate Bill 2160, authored by Sen. Angela Paxton, R-Plano, and House bills by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, would bar abortion except to save a woman from impairment or death. Both await hearings.