AUSTIN, TEXAS -- The Texas House voted 96-47 on Friday regarding legislation that bans the most common second-trimester abortion procedure and regulates how health care providers dispose of unborn baby body remains.
An addition to Senate Bill 8, this amendment prohibits physicians from dilation and evacuation abortions, a procedure using forceps or similar instruments on a live unborn baby to remove it from the womb in pieces. It also stipulates that doctors performing the procedure in Texas would face felony charges.
Bill bans the sale or donation of fetal tissue
The measure also bans the sale or donation of fetal tissue to medical researchers and requires that any health care facility, including hospitals and abortion clinics, have to bury or cremate any fetal remains, whether from abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth. Although there is a federal ban in place on partial birth abortion, this measure also allows Texas to enact it as state law and have control of its ban, regardless of whether the sitting president is pro-life or not.
This amendment will now go to the Senate, and if they accept the amendments from the House, it will then be placed on Governor Greg Abbott's desk for his signature.
Liberty Counsel represents Sandra Merritt, the journalist whose courageous undercover work exposed Planned Parenthood's barbaric practices of harvesting organs from babies and selling them to StemExpress and other organ procurement organizations. The videos she helped produce stirred the conscience of America and led to the defunding of Planned Parenthood in more than 10 states.
"We carry the blood of innocent children on our hands every day," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chariman of Liberty Counsel. "We cannot escape the consequences of this human genocide unless we stop the slaughter and repent of this terrible sin. Abortion is outright rebellion against God, the author of human life. This amendment reflects a positive shift in legislative policy as pro-life bills are increasingly calling attention to the treatment of the baby in the womb and not simply the mother's health. I urge the Senate to agree to the House amendments to Senate Bill 8 and send it to Governor Abbot quickly. We must make the womb a safe place again," said Staver.
Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
