By: Sean Salai
“Cities should be promoting the extensive network of resources Texas offers to support women facing unplanned pregnancies, including life-affirming services through pregnancy centers, maternity homes and adoption agencies,” said Amy O’Donnell, a spokeswoman for Texas Alliance for Life.
By: Emily Brindley
With a year and a half until the next legislative session, there are also non-legislative campaigns that could move the needle on Texans’ abortion access.
Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, said his focus for now is on the enforcement of Texas’ existing law. Pojman said he’ll be watching for the implementation of continuing education training under the abortion clarification bill. He also wants to see district attorneys take more enforcement action against doctors and others who provide abortion care or access.
Pojman, like Seago, is opposed to medication abortion. But he thinks the solution is the enforcement of existing law rather than additional legislation.
“We do have a problem with drugs being brought illegally into Texas for chemical abortions,” Pojman said. “I’d like to see more aggressive activity by district attorneys to prosecute those crimes.”
By: Steven Ardary
“Since 2021, abortions in Texas have essentially ceased. As a Christian and a conservative, I celebrate that tens of thousands of tiny Texans have been saved and that Texas has led the way in protecting life nationwide,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said after the bill’s passage. “SB 31, which is only designed to provide legal clarity for doctors in rare cases when a mother’s life is threatened, is supported by Texas Right to Life, Texas Alliance for Life, and other life groups. I thank Sen. Hughes for his continued passionate defense of life.”
By: Blaise Gainey
But HB 2197 saw recent pushback from even the state’s strongest supporters of abortion restrictions. Texas Alliance for Life — which describes itself as a “pro-life organization whose goals are to protect innocent human life from conception through natural death” — is one of them.
On Monday, the group’s X account posted a “legislative alert” advising followers to “oppose HB 2197, a bill to criminalize abortion for women— including the death penalty.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s scheduled committee hearing on the bill, Texas Alliance for Life called on individuals to submit written testimony urging lawmakers to reject the bill, which it said would “deter women from seeking help & make it harder to stop illegal abortion providers.”
By: Reyna Rodriguez
Executive Director of Texas Alliance for Life, Dr. Joe Pojman, also testified in favor of the legislation prior to its revisions, and cited data reported by the Department of Health and Human Services of the 151 abortions labeled under the “medically necessary” exception from the overturning of Roe through November 2024. Dr. Pojman stated, “No doctor has been prosecuted, sued, or sanctioned for any of those 151 abortions. No woman has lost her life for lack of an exception.”
By: Emily Brindley
Prominent anti-abortion rights advocates — including president of Texas Right to Life John Seago and founder of the Texas Alliance for Life Joe Pojman — also testified in favor of the bill.