AUSTIN, Texas – After a marathon of one-sided testimony Monday, the Senate Committee on State Affairs approved seven pieces of abortion legislation Tuesday, including a bill that would ban abortions at six weeks.
As one of the GOP’s priorities, SB 8, filed by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, is also known as a “heartbeat bill,” which would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. This is usually six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
Additionally, SB 9, filed by Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, marks another priority bill that would apply to Texas if, and to the extent, Roe v. Wade is altered by the United States Supreme Court.
“Ten other states have passed heartbeat bills,” Hughes told the committee Monday. “We have to admit Texas is behind. This bill will protect the lives of our most precious Texans starting at the moment that little heart is beating.”
These bills must now get passed by the full Senate, House committee and full House in order to have a chance at becoming law. The seven abortion bills received votes from all six Republicans and Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, who is a longtime abortion opponent.
Tuesday’s votes come after marathon hearings Monday that went past midnight. Largely missing, though, were abortion rights advocates. In an rare occurrence, the overwhelming majority, if not every person testifying, either spoke in support of several abortion bills or encouraged the committee to take further steps toward outright abolishing abortion.
“No one’s excluded from this process,” said Hughes, who chairs the committee.
Caroline Duble, a political director for Avow, a Texas-based abortion rights advocacy group, called Hughes’ remarks into question.
“This was a hearing in which only anti-abortion witnesses were invited to testify, and the only public testimony allowed had to be in-person, during a pandemic, on a workday,” Duble said. " … I feel like this process was already extremely exclusive … but it felt like a new low for democracy and virtual testimony should have been made available.”
Advocates say they oppose the bills but did not show up in droves to speak against them due to both safety concerns from the pandemic and the knowledge that this is a losing argument in this committee.
The heartbeat bill, which passed with a 7-2 vote, does not contain exemptions for rape. Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson, asked if she was correct in assuming that the absence of such exemptions meant they did not exist.
Hughes answered, “That is correct,” noting that there is an exemption for medical emergencies.
SB 802, also filed by Paxton, is also called the Every Mother Matters Act (EMMA). This would create a database of abortion patients and require patients to be offered a consultation with a third party under contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission prior to the abortion.
Paxton said the resource offer includes medically accurate information, assessment and an offer of support services including housing, employment, child care and adoption services.
But, abortion rights advocates have voiced concerns that state-funded centers will only try to pursuade patients away from getting an abortion.
Regarding the database of patients, Powell asked Paxton, “Do you have any concerns about the data breaches we’ve experienced statewide and nationwide, and the access that’s required to this data by both third parties and physicians?”
Paxton shared Powell’s concern, adding that we should “always be worried about data breaches.”
“I’m very committed to making sure that we as a state are modernizing and staying up with, and I know you are too,” Paxton said. “So we share that concern for the privacy of these women, I can assure you that that intent.”
SB 650, filed by Sen. Donna Capmbell, R-New Braunfels, sets aim on cities like Austin by bannning local governments from funding logistical support for abortion – logistical support includes providing money for child care, travel or any form of transportation to or from an abortion provider, lodging, food, counseling that encourages a woman to have an abortion or any service that facilitates the provision of an abortion.
SB 1647 is an omnibus bill filed by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, that would include a ban on abortion at six weeks and would also ban abortion completely by 2025.
Testifiers who continued to file in as midnight approached revealed that they arrived at the Capitol at 7:45 a.m. The rare testifiers who spoke against the bills did so by urging the committee to work on completely banning abortion.
Lucio told multiple testifiers that if states could bypass the federal government, Texas would have already abolished abortion, but that isn’t the case.
“You have a governor that would sign that bill,” Lucio told one testifier. “Believe me.”
Cheryl Foster, who works with the Indivisible TX Lege group, arrived at the Capitol and registered shortly after 8 a.m. to testify against several bills – as 10 p.m. approached, Foster grew uncomfortable after noticing an uptick in abortion abolitionists delivering passionate testimonies and around the capitol.
After taking a trip to the restroom, Foster also said she saw several abortion abolitionists and abortion opponents in the rotunda. As a former Planned Parenthood volunteer, Foster said she’s experienced harassment, but the environment Monday evening felt unsafe and ultimately played a factor in her decision to leave before testifying.
“I’ve never felt scared of doing anything in the Capitol,” Foster said.
But, she added, “that’s when I made the call to walk away.”
“It makes me so damn angry, because I love a good fight,” Foster said. “It makes me angry that I didn’t feel safe enough to fight.”
Foster continued to watch the livestream after leaving the Capitol. Her name was called after midnight.
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