1 year after Roe v. Wade’s reversal: Texans reflect on impact of total ban on abortion | ABC 13

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By: Rosie Nguyen

“I can’t help but reflect with joy on this decision that allowed Texas to protect life beginning at conception. Outside of emergency medical exceptions, the number of abortions in Texas has dropped down to zero. We absolutely believe that it’s saving lives. We celebrate every life that has been saved in Texas as a result of our pro-life laws,” Amy O’Donnell, communications director at Texas Alliance for Life, said.

She said her organization works with pregnancy centers across the state that provide support and assistance for women who choose to move forward with their pregnancy and give birth to their children.

“One thing we have worked on, which is really no different than what we’ve focused on in the past, is to educate Texans about the vast resources that Texas offers women. There’s resources to specifically help low-income women and women facing unplanned pregnancies,” O’Donnell, said. “We believe in the value of protecting lives conceived even in rape or babies diagnosed with disabilities in their mother’s wombs.”

O’Donnell believes the language in the Human Life Protection Act is clear when it comes to the exceptions that can be made for abortions, but acknowledges there could be more clarification on the law.

SEN. DREW SPRINGER: LEGISLATIVE UPDATE | Olney Enterprise

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By: SEN. DREW SPRINGER

My Legislative Highlights

My goal for this session was to pass strong, conservative legislation that ensures that the Texas Miracle lives on. Below are a couple of bills that I either authored or sponsored that are now on Gov. Abbott’s desk waiting to be signed into law.

HB 3162 restores life-affirming values in healthcare by amending the Texas Advance Directives Act to revise provisions related to life-sustaining treatment and DNR orders for patients who are incompetent or mentally/physically incapable of communication. Current law allows a Hospital committee to withdraw a patient’s basic life-sustaining treatment with a 10-day notice. This bill will extend the period to twenty-five days and provides for a seven-day notice, giving patients and their families time to transfer to a different physician or facility that will respect their decision. It was an honor to work on this legislation with Representative Klick, Texas Right to Life, Texas Alliance for Life, and Texans for Life Coalition.

Recently concluded Texas regular session saw significant reforms to behavioral and maternal health | State of Reform

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By: Boram Kim

Texas’s Alternatives to Abortion (A2A) program will receive $140 million over the 2024-2025 biennium, a 40% percent increase from the current cycle.

Joe Pojman, PhD, executive director for the Texas Alliance for Life, told State of Reform the organization was pleased with the expanded support for the program, saying the passage of SB 24 will ensure its continuation now as the Thriving Texas Families (TTF) program.

“Now the [A2A] program is going to be [on a] statutory basis,” Pojman said. “The executive commissioner of HHSC will promulgate rules for a variety of things like outcome measures for how well the contractors are performing—according to what the department sees. It also more closely links [TTF] with other programs that the state has so it’s easier for those clients to access them. It’s more natural for the providers to link and refer the clients to [the Medicaid program].”

THE LEGISLATURE IGNORES SUFFERING PREGNANT TEXANS | TEXAS OBSERVER

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By: SARA HUTCHINSON

“I am pleased to say that none of the bills that want to weaken our pro-life laws have been sent in any committee to be heard,” spokesperson Amy O’Donnell said, “And we are going to keep it that way.”

O’Donnell said that if doctors need clarification, that clarification should come not from the Legislature, but from other bodies such as the Texas Medical Board.

Yet evidence is mounting that Texas anti-abortion laws prevent doctors from providing standard-of-care treatment. Bernardo and her 12 co-plaintiffs were all denied care for their pregnancy complications as a result of Texas law.

State Senator Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, who filed the Senate version of the bill, said that she’s disappointed the Legislature failed to act.

“When the Lege passed the trigger ban, a lot of us warned that the exception was too vague and undefined and that could have a chilling effect on doctors’ ability to treat their patients, leading to delay or even a denial of care,” she said, “and what we predicted came true.”

Time Is Running Out for Texas Republicans to Clarify Exceptions in Their New Abortion Law | The Nation

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By: Mary Tuma

In fact, a handful of Texas Republicans recently stood with one of the largest anti-abortion groups in the state to reaffirm that they would not be pursuing these exceptions. “Our laws are very clear,” said Amy O’Donnell of Texas Alliance for Life. “We have heard stories of doctors who say they need further clarification but we believe that that clarification should come…from various [hospital] boards. The laws do not need to be changed.”

10-Day Rule for Withholding Treatment from Hospital Patients Reformed in Texas House Bill | The Texan

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By: Cameron Abrams

Prior to Klick’s proposal, there were many attempts at reform. Most recently, Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) and former representative Sen. Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound) filed the “Respecting Texas Patients’ Right to Life Act of 2021,” which failed to make it out of the Senate.

Texas Alliance for Life originally opposed this legislation siding with the ability of medical facilities and doctors granted with the ability to end treatment of a patient who is on life-sustaining care.