By: Kayla Guo
“Texas has reaffirmed its commitment to both protecting life from conception, and ensuring women are not harmed by abortion or dangerous chemical abortion drugs,” said Amy O’Donnell, acting executive director of Texas Alliance for Life. House Bill 7 “reflects the values of the voters in our state who voted in pro-life leaders in the majority who passed this legislation on behalf of the will of the people. HB 7 reflects the position of many Texans.”
By: Olivia Aldridge
Certain anti-abortion groups, including the Texas Alliance for Life, initially held back support for HB7. Amy O’Donnell, communications director for the Texas Alliance for Life, said the group was concerned the large financial reward outlined in the bill would incentivize “financial bounty hunters,” and that associated lawsuits could risk harm to women by exposing their private information.
However, the Texas Alliance for Life gave its support to the final version of HB7, which explicitly prohibits exposure of personal medical information in court filings. It also says that only people who are directly affected — including the pregnant woman and other immediate family members — could receive the full $100,000-plus reward. Other private citizens may receive $10,000 of the reward, with the rest going to a charity.
“I think that it lowers the incentive for bad actors to go after suits for personal gain,” O’Donnell said.
By: Jessica Shuran Yu, Maria Mendez, Colleen DeGuzman
The Texas Alliance for Life last month expressed support for revisions to HB 7, including those meant to protect women’s privacy and cap financial rewards for people who are not related to the person who had or sought an abortion.
“It is already illegal to traffic abortion drugs in Texas under the Human Life Protection Act, and our priority remains enforcement of that and other laws,” said Amy O’Donnell, communications director for Texas Alliance for Life. ”The revised version of HB 7 provides another tool against illegal abortion-by-mail while including vital protections for women.”
By: Scott Simon, Olivia Aldridge
I talked to Amy O’Donnell, who represents the anti-abortion group called Texas Alliance for Life.
AMY O’DONNELL: House Bill 7 adds another level of protection, another layer of protection on, just to help ensure that we’re doing everything we can to stop chemical abortion drugs from harming women and children in Texas.
By: Alejandra O'Connell- Domenech
“It is already illegal to traffic abortion drugs in Texas under the Human Life Protection Act, and our priority remains enforcement of that and other laws,” said Amy O’Donnell, communications director for Texas Alliance for Life, an anti-abortion group.
“The revised version of HB 7 provides another tool against illegal abortion-by-mail while including vital protections for women.”
O’Donnell added that the organization supports the revised version of the bill since it now protects women’s privacy by barring the disclosure of personal or medical information in court filings and prohibits some abusers from being able to sue, including people accused of domestic violence or of impregnating a person through sexual assault.
By: Geoff Mulvihill
“We believe that women need to be protected from the harms of chemical abortion drugs,” said Amy O’Donnell, a spokesperson for Texas Alliance for Life, which supports the bill. “They harm women, and their intent is to harm unborn babies.”