Texas House Passes 3 Pro-Life Bills; Midnight Deadline Looms

We are on track to have a sensational (pro-life) session. Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas We are grateful to House Speaker Joe Straus and his House leadership team for the success of these pro-life bills. And we look forward to working with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Senate to pass these bills in that chamber Dr. Joe Pojman (left) executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life said earlier today noting that the Texas House had passed three substantial Pro-Life Bills as the do-or-die midnight deadline loomed.    An additional three pro-life bills are on the calendar for consideration. The legislative session ends on June 1 and for House bills to succeed the House is required to give preliminary approval to its own bills by the end of the 122nd day of the session. The House gave its preliminary approval to HB 3374 by Rep. Geanie Morrison (left R-Victoria) to require physicians to provide state-provided educational materials to parents of an unborn child newly diagnosed with Down syndrome. An amendment by Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa) assures that the state materials do not advocate for abortion. The Landgraf amendment passed on a 96-38 vote and the bill passed unanimously afterward. The House also gave preliminary approval to HB 3074 by Rep. Drew Springer (right R-Muenster) to give patients at the end of life the right to food and water if requested by the patient or the patients family. A large coalition of pro-life and disability rights organizations supported HB 3074 saying current law provides no criteria for when and how a decision to remove artificially administered nutrition and hydration may occur. The Texas Alliance for Life the Texans for Life Committee Texas Right to Life and Texas Catholic Conference pushed for Springers legislation to see the bill through passage in both the Texas House and Senate and encourage the signature of Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

• Here is a copy of the signed agreement.

This is a refreshing and inspiring collaboration for groups committed to the protection of life said Kyleen Wright president of Texans for Life Committee. I am indeed proud to have been part of the effort to forge this important consensus. It was essential for legislators to establish strict and clear rules for the rare circumstances in which a doctor may have to consider withholding food and water because it exacerbates the suffering or brings about the death of a patient said Jeffery Patterson Ph.D. executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference.

The vote on House Bill 3074 was unanimous. Third the House gave its final approval to HB 3994 by Rep. Geanie Morrison (R-Victoria) on a 93-46 vote. House Bill 3994 reforms the judicial bypass process in Texas law for abortions on minor girls.

• Under the judicial bypass process judges can issue an orders allowing physicians to perform secret abortions on minor girls 17 years of age and younger without notifying or obtaining the consent parents.
• HB 3994 strengthens parents rights to protect their minor daughters from abortion by tightening a number of loopholes in the judicial bypass process.

For example HB 3994 changes the provision in current law that allows a minor to have a judicial bypass hearing in virtually any court in Texas via teleconference regardless of where she resides. Data from the Texas Department of State Health Services indicate that some counties experience a disproportionate number of bypass proceedings. All of the passed pro-life bills are on Texas Alliance for Lifes list of priority bills. We are on track to have a sensational session Pojman said.