(The Center Square) – After the regular legislative session this year, additional anti-abortion measures have become law or will become law Sept. 1.
Gov. Greg Abbott ceremonially signed two of the bills this week as part of an ongoing effort to raise awareness about new laws going into effect in September, highlighting the work of state lawmakers.
“We wouldn’t be here but for everybody who’s a member of the House and Senate coming together to support legislation that supports life,” Abbott said. “Similarly, we have so many advocates who’ve been engaged in this process for literally decades. Because of their involvement, we’ve been able to pass legislation, after legislation, after legislation, so much so, that Texas has passed more pro-life legislation than any state in the United States.”
Over the years, Abbott has signed many prolife bills into law, including a near total abortion ban. “A problem, however, is that some cities have circumvented those laws using taxpayer dollars to support abortion,” Abbott said. One bill he signed, SB 33, “ends that now.”
SB 33, filed by state Sen. Joan Campbell and state Rep. Candy Noble, prohibits Texas governmental entities (cities, counties, school districts, state agencies) from financially or logistically supporting abortion. This includes a ban on entering into contracts with abortion providers or with entities that assist individuals with obtaining abortions.
When Abbott was attorney general and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was a state senator, Patrick said the state legislature began the state’s prolife legislative journey when if first passed “the sonogram bill.” The now law requires physicians to provide a pregnant woman with a sonogram and verbal description of the image prior to having an abortion. It was challenged in court, which Abbott as AG defended and won.
“From that day, through a long series of bills,” and since Abbott became governor and Patrick became lieutenant governor in 2015, Patrick said he calculated the total number of laws enacted “saved possibly over 300,000 babies. That’s 300,000 little Texans who will one day be an adult to have hundreds of thousands of more little Texans and they will have their little Texans.”
The governor and legislature over the past decade have focused on “the most important thing: to protect life, public safety, and this is protecting life at the very beginning,” he said.
Campbell filed the bill after San Antonio officials in her district created a program to allocate taxpayer money to fund out-of-state travel for abortion. The state sued and the Fifteenth Court of Appeals issued a ruling blocking the city from allocating any funds for funding “abortion tourism,” The Center Square reported.
SB 33 becomes effective Sept. 1.
Another bill Abbott signed was the “Life of the Mother Act.” This was after he said Texas’ Human Life Protection Act didn’t need to be amended. It prohibits abortions from being performed in Texas with the exception of protecting the life of the mother, The Center Square reported.
Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes and state Rep. Charlie Geren filed SB 31 because they said clarification is needed in current law. This includes clarifying that doctors may act to save the life of a pregnant woman when she faces a life-threatening condition. The law also protects doctors from civil and criminal liability when taking action to save the mother’s life and clarifies that providing treatment for ectopic pregnancies for miscarriages does not violate Texas abortion laws.
“Texas law has always recognized that … [when] the mom’s life’s in danger, where the mom has a medical emergency, in those situations going back to centuries … Texas law has always recognized that life of the mother must be protected,” Hughes said. “In recent years, some physicians and hospitals have been confused about the law. Most doctors and hospitals get it right, but some were confused, and moms were being harmed and even losing their lives because of that.” Lawmakers took action to protect mother’s lives, he said.
The new law provides “confidence for mothers that the proper medical care will be available … that they don’t have to lie on a table and nearly bleed out before someone does something,” Geren said. “We need for the people of the state of Texas and the mothers especially to understand that we’re behind them. If there’s a medical emergency, their health and their life can be saved.”
The law went into effect June 20.
