By: Staff
Establishing a state ban on the sale of fetal tissue was a key priority of Governor Greg Abbott’s LIFE Initiative, which he announced in August 2015. Senate Bill 8 also carries the support of several prominent pro-life organizations, including Texas Right to Life, the Texas Alliance for Life, the Texans for Life Coalition, and the Texas Catholic Conference.
By: John C. Moritz, USA Today Network Austin Bureau
Legislation to prohibit the sale or donation of abortion-related fetal tissue won approval Wednesday in the Texas Senate with four Democrats joining the solid block of Republicans. The measure, Senate Bill 8, was offered in response to secretly recorded videos that surfaced in 2015 that purported to show a representative from Planned Parenthood in Houston trying to set up the sale of tissue resulting from abortion.
By: Scott Braddock
House Bill 35’s aim, Cook said, is to prohibit what he has often called an “abhorrent” practice of disposing of a fetus by placing it in a garbage disposal – it’s something that’s been allowed in Texas for nearly 30 years. In laying out the bill, Chairman Cook credited his Chief of Staff Toni Barcellona for discovering in April of last year that the practice was allowed by rule. She made the discovery while preparing for an interim hearing on fetal tissue research, Cook said.
By: Chuck Lindell
Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, said the bill would “rectify a wrong that has been in state rules for more than two decades.” “The bodies of the victims of abortion should never be treated as medical waste,” he said.
By: Nicole Cobler
“We’re not recommending that the legislature pass any bill that would not withstand a federal court challenge,” Pojman said. “This is not a good time to challenge Roe v. Wade. The outcome is predictable.”
By: Charlie Butts
The Lone Star State passed into law a policy that aborted babies must be buried or cremated; in response, abortion-providers quickly filed suit in federal court. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks issued an injunction claiming the law raised the possibility of constitutional violations and could severely limit abortion access in Texas.
But Joe Pojman of Texas Alliance for Life tells OneNewsNow that the state’s rules have been well crafted. “… The reality is Texas cannot limit access to abortion in [the state] and these rules do not do that,” he explains.