TAL Advocating Passage of Five Bills in Governor Abbott’s Expanded Special Session Call
Texas Alliance for Life (TAL) is grateful to Gov. Greg Abbott for taking a strong pro-life stance by adding five important pro-life bills to the expanded special session call. The State Legislature met this spring for its regular session that occurs every two years, but they adjourned without passing several key bills. When the work of the legislature is not completed within the time allowed, the governor has the authority to call legislators back to the Capitol for a special session, which Gov. Abbott did by calling a special session to begin on July 18. He then added four pro-life topics to the special session call, allowing legislators the opportunity to enact laws protecting the lives mothers and their unborn.
We support and are lobbying for the following pro-life bills as they move through the legislative process during the special session:
- Improved abortion complication reporting (SB 10 Sen. Donna Campbell/HB 13 Rep. Giovanni Capriglione).
- Ending state and local abortion subsidies by banning contracts with abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. (SB 4 Sen. Charles Schwertner/ HB 14 Rep. Drew Springer).
- Pro-life insurance reform (SB 8 Sen. Brandon Creighton/HB 214 Rep. John Smithee).
- Do-not-resuscitate (DNR) reform to require consent (SB 11 Sen. Charles Perry/HB 12 Rep. Greg Bonnen).
- Increased reporting for abortions on minors (SB 73 Sen. Brian Hughes/HB 215 Rep. Jim Murphy).
TAL’s Executive Director Dr. Joe Pojman photographed (left to right) with House State Affairs Chairman Byron Cook (R-Corsicana), HB 13 bill author Representative Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake), Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops Executive Director Jennifer Allmon, and Texans for Life President Kyleen Wright after the successful passage to the full consideration of the Texas House.
The bills are moving quickly in both the Senate and House. View the status of each of these bills by clicking here.
We will be actively communicating via our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Be sure to follow for the latest TAL pro-life happenings in the Texas Legislature.
Texas Legislature Concludes another Sensational Regular Session
As the Texas Legislature adjourned Sine Die on the 85th Regular Session on May 29, TAL celebrated another sensational session on the life issue. This follows a very successful pro-life session in 2015. Under the leadership of Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Speaker Joe Straus the Legislature in 2017 passed six pro-life bills, continued funding for alternatives to abortion, continued the defunding of Planned Parenthood, and passed numerous other pro-life provisions in the General Appropriations Act, the state’s two-year budget.
The key pro-life bill passed is SB 8, by Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown) and Rep. Cindy Burkett (R-Sunnyvale), designed to shut down Planned Parenthood’s trafficking in baby body parts that first became known from the videos released by the Center for Medical Progress. SB 8 bans partial-birth abortion, bans the sale and donation of organs and tissues after elective abortion, and bans research on tissues and organs of victims of elective abortions. Additionally, an amendment by Rep. Byron Cook (R-Corsicana) requires humane disposition of the bodies of babies who die from abortion and miscarriage.
Another bill protects victims of sex trafficking from forced abortions. HB 2552 by Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) and Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), with an amendment by Rep. DeWayne Burns (R-Cleburne), requires human trafficking hotline signs at abortion facilities and hospitals, creates a new first degree felony offense for killing an “unborn child” of a girl who is a victim of trafficking, and increases criminal penalties for assaulting a woman to force her to have an abortion.
Click here to see more bills the Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law.