By: Olivia Aldridge

Amy O’Donnell, communications director for the anti-abortion group Texas Alliance for Life, said the group supports continued access to IVF. However, she said, the organization believes embryos created through IVF should not be discarded; it supports options like embryo adoption, wherein individuals donate embryos they don’t plan to use.

“We do believe that there is a way to protect life from the moment of an embryo’s fertilization while still allowing families the opportunity to bring forth life through the IVF process,” O’Donnell said. “It is something that we trust the Legislature is going to be looking into.”

By: Nick Harper

A U.S. study released last month estimates that 64,000 women and girls became pregnant from rape in states that have implemented abortion bans. The research has reignited the debate about a women’s right to choose. But anti-abortion groups in one of the most restrictive states say the data presented in the study is flawed.

By: Jef Rouner

Texas Alliance for Life has been oddly silent since the release of the study, sending out a single tweet saying, “A child conceived in rape does not deserve to be killed for the crime of his father.” Though the rally promises to promote the “vast resources” available for pregnant Texans, speakers include representatives of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a radical anti-abortion think tank that promotes misinformation, such as that fetuses can experience pain at 15 week (the current scientific consensus is 23-24 weeks)

By: Adela Uchida

“That’s a tall order. If we could only truly eliminate rape, we definitely have penalties in the state of Texas or for people to be brought to trial who do rape people,” said Amy O’Donnell, spokeswoman for the Texas Alliance For Life. She says they support the lack of a rape exception in the Texas ban. “We stand in support of protecting all babies, even those conceived through the act of rape, and every child no matter the circumstance of their conception is worthy of life,” she said.

By: Susan Milligan

Amy O’Donnell, communications director for the Texas Alliance for Life, says Cox’s story exposes the stakes for two people – Kate Cox and the daughter she is carrying.

“I believe that people are moved by Kate Cox’s story. The pro-life side is moved to respond to the value of her unborn child’s life,” O’Donnell says. Even if the fetus were to die soon after birth or survive with a disability, “we believe it’s discriminatory to discriminate against anyone who has a disability,” O’Donnell says. “Kate Cox’s daughter is no exception.”

The reelection campaign of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris is seizing on the stories of women like Cox to draw a distinction with Republicans – especially former President Donald Trump, who said during his 2016 campaign that there needed to be some punishment for women who have abortions.

By: John C. Moritz

Amy O’Donnell, a policy analyst and communications director for the Texas Alliance for Life, acknowledged that abortion rights activists have skillfully used the Cox case to bring the national spotlight to their cause.

Kate Cox, who sued for the right to have an abortion after learning that her fetus had a condition that is nearly always fatal, left the state to get an abortion. The state Supreme Court ruled against her.
While saying “our hearts go out to the Cox family,” O’Donnell said abortion rights organizations are using “a lot of misinformation” about whether a baby can survive trisomy 18.

“It’s incredibly important that we educate Texans and people in general, not just on the issue around trisomy 18, and the fact that that’s not always fatal, and that every life is valuable and worthy of protection,” O’Donnell said. “But also that our laws clearly allow doctors to intervene to save a woman’s life or to save her from the risk of impairment, substantial impairment of a major bodily function such as fertility.”