Alex Briseno The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate voted to give preliminary approval to seven abortion-related bills Monday, including a controversial “heartbeat bill” that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, roughly six weeks into a pregnancy.
Each bill still needs a third reading and final vote of approval from the upper chamber, which it is expected to receive, before it goes to the Texas House with the rest of the package.
Senate Bill 8, the heartbeat bill filed by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, does not contain exceptions for rape or incest, an omission opponents consider extreme. The lone exception included in the first of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s two priority abortion-related bills are for medical emergencies. This bill also would make abortion providers face civil liability if they knowingly perform the procedure after a fetal heartbeat has been detected.
Abortion rights advocates have vehemently opposed this bill, noting that many women are unaware of their pregnancy six weeks in.
The votes served as a reminder that even with the pandemic, a plethora of election bills and addressing a flimsy power grid, restricting abortion rights remains a priority for Senate Republicans, who control the chamber. The series of votes comes after brief debate on the Senate floor, though all seven abortion bills discussed Monday passed with ease.
Dallas Democrat Sen. Nathan Johnson called the bill a “mockery,” saying it is an “encroachment” on people’s constitutional rights.
“I understand the passion that you have behind this bill, and it’s shared by many people,” Johnson told Hughes on the floor. “With all due respect to that, I think those are all personal, philosophical, religious decisions. Not the scope of big state legislation, which I feel is going on here.”
Brownsville Sen. Eddie Lucio, a Democrat who has long opposed abortion, responded to Johnson moments later, saying “For you to use the word mockery, it offends me. … If anything, to stand for abortion really makes a mockery of the sanctity of life.”
SB 8 passed on second reading with a 19-12 vote.
Senate Bill 9: Trigger bill
Senate Republicans also saw SB 9, Patrick’s other priority anti-abortion bill, pass on second reading. As filed by McKinney Republican Sen. Angela Paxton, this bill would ban abortion if and to the extent the Supreme Court of the United States overturns or alters Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized the procedure.
It would also provide criminal and civil penalties against abortion providers in the event that the Supreme Court revisits and changes the landmark decision.
During a respectful back-and-forth, Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, asked Paxton if she considers reproductive health care essential to a woman’s overall health.”
“I do,” Paxton said.
Alvarado responded, “But yet we continue to regulate and regulate and regulate women’s reproductive health care. We regulate it more than ERCOT is regulated.”
Paxton said that healthcare is about life and promoting health, but stated that healthcare is for things that promote and enhance life rather than ending it.
“I’m committed to women’s health care, but I’m committed to women’s health care after birth and before birth,” Paxton said.
Another provision of Paxton’s bill includes criminal punishments for abortion providers. This law would make it a second-degree felony to perform an abortion. That gets upgraded to a first-degree felony if the procedure is completed. Abortion providers are also subject to a $100,000 fine for each violation.
Alvarado said they can disagree on where they stand on abortion, but doesn’t know how the Senate could endorse criminalizing abortion providers or the discomfort it gives them knowing that they could go to prison if this bill went into law.
Johnson noted the recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll that found 55% of Texans believe abortion laws should either be left as is (18%) or less strict (37%), while 32% said abortion laws should be stricter. That same poll found that only 13% said abortion should not legal at all.
“Your bill makes no exceptions for rape or incest, so I ask you: Instead of a trigger bill, isn’t there a bigger conversation we need to have when it truly is up to the states to ban abortion?” Johnson asked Paxton. “Because right now it’s at least equivocal whether we ought to have an outright ban on abortions.”
Paxton responded by saying that you can always find a study that contradicts others, adding that at the end of the day her bill is about protecting life from “conception until natural death.”
Both Johnson and Alvarado questioned the general philosophy of passing a trigger bill.
“The legislator can make law while we are in session — we have an interim for about a year-and-a-half, and should something happen at the Supreme Court during that time it matters that immediately lives can be saved,” Paxton said in defense of her trigger bill.
SB9 also passed to third reading with a 19-12 vote.
The votes come two weeks after the collection of bills received a one-sided marathon hearing that largely consisted of testimony from abortion opponents and abortion abolitionists. The reason for this wasn’t abundantly clear, though the absence of virtual testimony and the conservative makeup of the committee is believed to have played a significant role.
Abortion rights advocates are expected to put their focus on the Texas House, where the seven abortion bills will head after a final vote.
Bills that also received preliminary approval
SB 394, filed by Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, would prohibit chemical or “pill-induced” abortions after 7 weeks. It would also ban people from receiving abortion medication by mail.
SB 650, filed by Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, looks to bar local city governments from funding logistical support for people seeking an abortion. According to the bill, this can include money for child care, travel to or from an abortion provider,
housing, food and counseling that may encourage a person to have an abortion.
SB 802, also filed by Paxton, would require a third party under contract with the Texas Health and Human Services to offer a consultation and inform a person to available resources seeking an abortion before the procedure.
SB 1173, authored by Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland, would remove the exception for abortion after 20 weeks when a fetus has severe abnormality.
Sen. 1647, filed by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, is an omnibus bill that would ban abortions at six weeks, with a timeline that would completely ban abortions by 2025.
