Capitol Watch

           Texas 80th Legislative Session Recap - Abortion-Related Bills Pass the Senate, but the House took no action

A handful of strong Pro-Life bills were pursued during the 80th Texas Legislative Session.  In our State Senate, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst oversaw the passage of two of these bills, one relating to the reporting of abortions (SB 785) and the other requiring an ultrasound before an abortion (SB 920).  Dewhurst ensured that these two bills were out of the Senate and over to the House in time to beat the House calendar restrictions.   The political strain in the House was too intense.  While House members argued over whether and how to vacate the Chair of the Speaker of the House, hundreds of bills hung in the balance, including these two Pro-Life bills.  In the final days of the 80th session, some House members threatened to kill all remaining bills on the House calendar if the Speaker allowed floor debate on the Pro-Life bills.

One of Texas Right to Life’s top legislative priorities, House Bill 1750/Senate Bill 785, was authored by Rep. Geanie Morrison (R-Victoria) and Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano).  If passed by the House, this bill would have strengthened the reporting requirements for all abortions committed in Texas; the purpose of such reporting is to gather data that will shape public policy to better serve women with unplanned pregnancies.  Under this bill, a woman seeking an abortion completes a half-page generic form asking for demographic data but no personal identifying information; the form also asks the reason for her abortion.

If the data collected shows that girls are being coerced, then Texas Right to Life, pregnancy resource centers, crisis hotlines, Birthright, and other agencies assisting pregnant women and teens will know how to better direct outreach efforts to these vulnerable women.  If the women indicate that they are choosing abortion due to finances, we can then ramp up our maternal assistance programs while connecting the women with CHIP (which covers unborn children) and other programs.

The Alan Guttmacher Institute estimates that as many as 40 to 50% of abortions are unreported due to incomplete or inadequate reporting requirements in state statistic collection.  (Source: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/08/03/ab_incidence.pdf)  How can abortion be addressed if the size and scope of the problem in unknown?  The bill also provided a process by which abortion complications would be reported.

Senate Bill 920 was sponsored by Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) and was patterned after a similar measure in South Carolina.  Senate Bill 920 earned bi-partisan support in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee with 8 “aye” votes and only one “nay” vote.  The bill subsequently passed in the full Senate but died in the House during the final days of the session.

The following chart details the final status of each abortion-related bill considered in either a House or Senate committee.  Other bills were filed, but listed below are the bills that saw movement.


 

House
Author

House
Bill #

Life

Final Result

What the bill would have done

Corte
(R-San Antonio)

21

Pro

Died in House Calendars Committee

Strengthen the rules by which an abortionist gives women the Woman’s Right to Know booklet required by law (The Woman’s Right to Know Act, Texas’ informed consent law for abortion, was passed in 2003.)

Chisum
(R-Pampa)

175

Pro

Died on a technicality in House State Affairs Committee

Trigger back into effect upon the reversal of Roe all the laws protecting the unborn that were in place prior to Roe v. Wade

Talton
(R-Pasadena)

859

Pro

Died in House Calendars Committee

Require the collection of a sample of fetal tissue of aborted babies whose mother was 14 years old or under when she underwent the abortion (Storing this sample would assist with prosecution efforts if the girl decided to pursue statutory rape charges.)

Zedler
(R-Arlington)

1131

Pro

Died in House Calendars Committee

Strengthen some reporting requirements for abortions in Texas

Morrison
(R-Victoria)

1750

Pro

Died on a technicality in the House State Affairs Committee but was later revived as a substitute for SB 785 (see below)

Strengthen reporting requirements for abortions in Texas

Farrar
(D-Houston)

301

Anti

Left Pending in House State Affairs Committee

Create a loophole so that when a fetal abnormality is detected in utero, an abortionist is not required to provide the Woman’s Right to Know informed consent booklet

Farrar
(D-Houston)

306

Anti

Left Pending in House State Affairs Committee

Create a loophole so that when a pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, the abortionist is not required to provide the Woman’s Right to Know informed consent booklet

Coleman
(D-Houston)

1760

Anti

Left Pending in House State Affairs Committee

Remove the mention of the possibility of a link between abortion and breast cancer from the Woman’s Right to Know informed consent booklet

Villareal
(D-San Antonio)

3077

Anti

Left Pending in House State Affairs Committee

Weaken existing parental involvement laws to allow non-parents and non-guardians to authorize a minor to undergo an abortion

 

 

Senate
Author

Senate Bill #

Life

Final Result

What the bill would have done

Patrick
(R-Houston)

920

Pro

Passed out of the full Senate.  While scheduled for House Floor Debate, the bill was pulled down due to political chaos in the final days of the Session.

Require the abortionist to conduct an ultrasound prior to committing an abortion, provide the woman with the ultrasound image, and review the ultrasound image with her

Shapiro
(R-Plano)

785

Pro

Passed out of the full Senate.
While scheduled for House Floor Debate, the bill was pulled down due to political chaos in the final days of the Session.

Strengthen reporting requirements for abortions in Texas