By: Taylor Goldenstein

Deirdre Cooper, a public policy analyst for Texas Alliance for Life, holds one of her daughters as she shares her experiences with pregnancy complications and her support for the state’s abortion laws on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, in Austin, Texas, after attending the Texas Supreme Court’s hearing on the Zurawski v Texas case. Cooper shared that her son Bosco, one of her 10 children, was diagnosed with Edwards syndrome, a severe chromosomal abnormality, and died in childbirth in April 2021.

By: Kevin Reece

“We are not in favor of any weakening exceptions,” said Amy O’Donnell with Texas Alliance for Life. “Children who are diagnosed with a disability in the womb or a fatal diagnosis in the womb are as worthy of protection as any other child. And we believe that the language is adequate to protect a mother’s life when a doctor needs to intervene to save her life or to avoid any risk.”

There is no timeline on when the Texas Supreme Court justices will issue a decision. They could leave the law as it is or let the injunction stand until further lower court arguments spell out more clearly what physicians can and cannot do when it comes to abortion in Texas.

By: Melanie Torre

The Texas Alliance for Life pushed back saying any clarification on the law should come from the Texas Medical Board.

“We are here today because we support the pro-life laws in Texas and we believe the language is adequate to protect a mother’s life,” said Amy O’Donnell, communications director for the Texas Alliance for Life. The organization’s policy analyst, Deirdre Cooper, said she had been in the same shoes as some of the women suing the state, but she does not regret seeing her baby’s fatal trisomy 18 diagnosis to the end—even if her son did not survive.

“Abortion robs that child of the chance at life– no matter how short. It robs the child of the chance of a miracle or the chance that the medical diagnosis is wrong,” Cooper said. “People think these are such difficult situations, but I disagree. There is nothing difficult about not killing your child– no matter his diagnosis,” she added.

By: Steven Ertelt

However, the ballot measure failed by a huge margin Saturday with 72 percent of voters opposed, according to the Texas Tribune.

Amy O’Donnell, communications director at Texas Alliance for Life, celebrated the victory after her organization spent months working to defeat the proposal.

“We are tremendously pleased to see that San Antonio voters have defeated Prop A so decisively,” O’Donnell said. “Prop A would have been tragic for unborn children and victims of trafficking who would have been left without the protection from abortion they deserve by San Antonio police.”