By: Daniel Perreault
The Texas Alliance for Life said 132 medically necessary abortions have taken place since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022.
By: Michael Adkinson
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued the following statement following the Texas Senate’s unanimous passage of Senate Bill 31, Life of the Mother Act, by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Tyler:
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. 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: 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: 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: Bayliss Wagner
SB 31’s GOP sponsors and major anti-abortion groups, such as Texas Alliance for Life and Texas Right to Life, supported the introduced versions of the bill, which said patients must face risk of death or “substantial loss of a major bodily function” but did not require that a “life-threatening condition” cause these risks, unlike current law. However, some Republicans in the Texas House objected.
“I think a lot of the pro-life community are worried that when you start making exceptions, they’ll become checkboxes to get around and get right back to elective abortion on demand,” state Rep. Mike Schofield, R-Katy, said during a House Public Health Committee hearing on HB 44 on April 7.
By: Emily Brindley
The two identical bills have garnered support from anti-abortion rights advocates such as the leaders of Texas Right to Life and Texas Alliance for Life, and also from medical providers with the Texas Hospital Association and the Texas Medical Association.