‘Fetal heartbeat’ bill restricting access to abortion passes Texas House
A bill that would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected — which typically occurs around 6 weeks, often before pregnancy is known — is on track to head to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk after the proposal initially passed out of the Texas House of Representatives.
Senate Bill 8 got the approval of the upper chamber in March. House members took up the proposal on the House floor Wednesday and will have to vote on it again before it passes out of the chamber. The vote was 81-63.
“Many men and women in this chamber have had that incredible experience, when we first heard the sound of our then unborn babies play out in a doctor’s office. ... That beautiful melody of a tiny life — innocent, vulnerable and worthy of our protection,” said Rep. Shelby Slawson, a Stephenville Republican who authored the House version of the bill and laid out the Senate version.
Texas law generally bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, according to an analysis by the House Research Organization.
Amy Hagstrom Miller, the president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, said the legislation would essentially function as a ban on most abortions in the state. About 90% of abortions provided by Whole Woman Health’s Texas clinics are done after six weeks, she said. Its Texas clinics include locations in Fort Worth and McKinney.
“Just because you live in Texas doesn’t mean you should have different rights than people who live in other parts of this country,” she said. “I think it’s important for people to speak up about the value of safe abortion services.”
The bill would “protect preborn children from abortion,” said Katherine Pitcher, a legislative associate for Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion advocacy group.
Similar laws have been subject to legal challenges in other states with little success. “Fetal heartbeat” laws have passed in more than a dozen states, but none have gone into effect, according to the Associated Press. However, supporters say the Texas bill is unique in its enforcement.
Instead of providing criminal penalties, the bill would allow citizens to bring civil action against a person who performs an abortion or aids in the performance of an abortion. A woman getting an abortion could not have litigation brought against her under the bill, Slawson said.
“We don’t believe that the abortion industry will be able to sue before this bill goes into effect because they normally sue the state of Texas, and it’s not the state of Texas that’s enforcing this law,” Pitcher said. “It would be private citizens through suing for damages. These civil remedies are often the most effective ways anyway to enforce pro-life laws.”
If the law passes, in addition to the abortion provider, clinic escorts, clinic employees and groups like the Texas Equal Access Fund — a nonprofit serving the north region of Texas that provides funding to low-income individuals seeking an abortion — could be subject to lawsuits, said Kamyon Conner, executive director of the Texas Equal Access Fund.
“I feel like access to abortion is already so scarce in our state,” Conner said. “There’s so much shame and stigma that’s perpetuated from our elected officials, so this would mean more shame and stigma. More confusion. It would also mean having to support people and getting outside our state in order to access the abortion care.”
The legislation does not offer exceptions for abortions in the case of rape or incest. An amendment added Wednesday does bar a person who impregnated an abortion patient through rape or incest from bringing civil litigation.
If the bill gets final approval from the House, it returns as amended to the Senate, where lawmakers can accept the changes or meet in a committee to address differences before being sent to the governor. Abbott on Wednesday ahead of the floor debate thanked the bill’s authors for working to get the measure to his desk.
“I have signed 11 laws to protect innocent lives from abortion but more must be done,” he wrote on Twitter.
Lawmakers shared personal stories about their pregnancies as they advocated for or against the legislation. Slawson recounted hearing the heartbeat of her middle daughter while pregnant.
“When she passed, we grieved, and honestly it was really hard sometimes not to question why we get to see her and hear her, but not hold her,” Slawson said. “I knew the middle daughter through the cadence of her heartbeat. That sound was her song, and it was the anthem of tens of thousands of sons and daughters who are worth our protection when we vote on this heartbeat act today.”
State Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, said she completely disagrees with the legislation and reflected on getting pregnant for the first time at 15. She recalled confiding in her friend how scared she was and going to Planned Parenthood clinic where she was presented with her options.
“I couldn’t go through with it,” she said. “I decided not to do that. That was my choice. It was a personal decision for me, but because of my choice, doesn’t mean that I need to put that in somebody else’s and make that their choice. Why should what I want and decide for myself supersede what someone else believes is best for them? And that’s what this bill does in my mind.”
She continued, “By eliminating and reducing what is already ... legal in our state, we are substituting our judgment, our moral opinion on all of Texans. We’re not giving them that choice.”
This story was originally published May 5, 2021 at 3:31 PM.
