Political Updates
May 16, 2011
Friends and Allies,
There is little by way of news this week, as the midnight deadline for passing bills came and went last week without the House reaching HB 2828. We’re thankful for Rep. Veasey’s dedication to technical education. However, last week in the Senate the Human Services Committee passed another one of Dan Patrick’s bills, SB 1790. It is bad news for Texas women and medical practitioners that under this bill only licensed physicians can dispense abortion-inducing medications. Other licensed staff--nurses or nurse practitioners--would be unable to provide these types of medication to women who need them. A doctor providing abortion-inducing medications would also be required to contract with another physician who agree to treat the female patient, should rare complications arise. These restrictions limit the ability of women to obtain private medical care from the provider of their own choosing. The bill is on the intent calendar tomorrow and could pass as early as Wednesday, but would still have to be printed, referred to a House committee, pass and be printed, and be eligible in Calendars by Sunday. We also expect several anti-choice amendments on the fiscal matters bills scheduled to be heard Wednesday in the House. Pending any urgent or breaking legislative news, we will be in contact in about two weeks with a final summary of the 2011 legislative session. Thank you for all that you do for the women and families of Texas. Thank you, Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
May 9, 2011 After weeks of contentious debate and political posturing in the House and Senate, mandatory sonograms for women seeking to have an abortion are soon to be a reality. It is possible that HB 15 could be signed into law as early as next week and will become effective on September 1. The final version of the bill shares elements of both the House and Senate versions, mandating a 24-hour waiting period with an exemption for women who live more than 100 miles from the closest clinic. Further exemptions allow women carrying a fetus with medical conditions or survivors of rape or incest to opt out of descriptions of fetal development. While these exemptions may reduce burdens on some women, it remains clear that this bill is intended to punish and shame all Texas women making private medical and parenting decisions.
In other news, Governor Perry is also slated to sign SB 257, creating an account in the general revenue fund that would fund anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers through the purchase of “Choose Life” license plates.
The House has placed HB 2828 on the calendar for Thursday, the last day for the House to pass bills. This legislation creates significant issues and expenses for clinics and doctors who provide safe, legal abortions in this state. With the session winding down we can safely say that while we are disappointed with the outcomes regarding these bills, we are thankful for all your hard work, advocacy, and attention during this difficult time. We are thankful that much of the other anti-choice legislation that was proposed will not be enacted. As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact us at info@prochoicetexas.org.
Thank you,
Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
May 2, 2011 Friends and Allies, Yesterday the Senate passed the mandatory sonogram bill with a vote of 21-10. HB 15 will now return to the lower chamber with several differences; senators added exemptions for rape and incest cases, for medically unviable fetuses, and for minors granted a judicial bypass allowing an abortion without parental consent. While are not totally surprised, we are nevertheless disappointed by this outcome. It seems that the Texas legislature is hell-bent on unduly burdening Texas women by restricting their reproductive autonomy and ability to make private decisions with their doctors. In other news, late last week the Texas Senate subcommittee on Health & Human Services approved extending the Women’s Health Program--but only if organizations that provide abortions are restricted from participating. This would limit women’s access to the services of their own choice and limit the ability of comprehensive women’s health clinics to effectively serve their patients. The House will be considering legislation to create “Choose Life” license plates with the proceeds going to crisis pregnancy centers. We have several good amendments to the bill, but because of the strident anti-choice House majority we doubt they will be successful. We also expect to see attempts to attach anti-choice amendments onto unrelated, otherwise non-controversial legislation. These include an amendment by Bill Zedler requiring a physician to file a fetal death certificate in cases of abortion that would include intrusive reporting requirements. In addition to several other amendments on the fiscal matters bill, one by Phil King would require courts to tabulate the orders they send to the Department of State Health Services for payment of attorneys’ and guardians’ ad litem fees in judicial bypass cases. Others would prevent hospital districts from using tax dollars for abortions. Thank you, Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
April 25, 2011 Friends and Allies,
We have several committee hearings coming up this week. On Tuesday, the full committee on Health & Human Services will hear SB 1790. This bill creates hurdles for physicians to prescribe, and patients to receive, medical abortions. And on Thursday, three women’s health bills will be heard in the Senate Health & Human Services sub-committee. Each of these bills seeks to expand and enhance the Women’s Health Program to reach and serve a higher number of eligible persons with family planning and contraceptive services. The Women’s Health Program saves the state money by providing a wide range of medical services for women and receives a generous 9-1 federal funding match.
In other news, we believe that the full Senate will pass the budget approved by the Finance Committee last week, as it aims to restore and sustain funding for family planning services. Senator Bob Deuell had this to say: "These programs prevent unwanted pregnancies and prevent abortions by allowing women to plan their pregnancies... I would dare say [the Senate] is willing to put more into family planning." We expect HB 15, the mandatory sonogram bill, to be debated on the Senate floor on Tuesday. We encourage you to contact your senator and tell him or her that you trust women and the medical professionals they choose when making private health care decisions.
Thank you,
Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
April 18, 2011 Friends and Allies,
While the Texas legislature seems focused on the budget, it is possible the Texas Senate will be voting on HB 15 as soon as Wednesday of this week. The House version of the mandatory sonogram bill would require women seeking an abortion to undergo a sonogram procedure at least 24 hours prior to an abortion procedure. The mandatory sonogram requirement creates undue burden on women as well as the medical professionals who serve them. It intrudes on the doctor-patient relationship and undermines a woman’s autonomy to determine what services she wants or requires. We encourage you to contact your senator as soon as possible to tell him or her that you trust women to make their own private medical decisions.
There are also three bills being heard in House committees meetings this week, all regarding a pregnant minor's ability to exercise her rights. HB 2555, being heard in House State Affairs on Wednesday the 20th, is particularly insidious as it unconstitutionally removes a minor’s autonomy and ability to seek a judicial bypass of parental consent to obtain an abortion.
Thank you, Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
April 11, 2011 Friends and Allies, Monday afternoon the Senate Committee on State Affairs heard the House version of the sonogram bill. The bill contains language that forces most women to receive state-mandated information and a sonogram in person 24 hours in advance of an abortion. Women living more than 100 miles from an abortion provider or in a county with a population of less than 60,000 would be required to receive state-mandated information by telephone 24 hours in advance and a sonogram two hours in advance. The Committee left the bill pending but is expected to vote on it today in a formal meeting. The full Senate will likely debate the bill the end of this week or early next week. Last week several women’s health bills were heard in the House Public Health Committee. Two positive, pro-women’s health bills, HB 1138 and HB 1478, which relate to the expansion of the Women’s Health Program, were left pending. Wednesday morning a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services will hear three Women's Health Program bills, SBs 575, 585, and 1854. These bills would all continue the Women’s Health Program and expand eligibility in different ways. As usual, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact info@prochoicetexas.org. Thank you, Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
April 4, 2011 Friends and allies,
The House passed its version of the budget last week, cutting a total of $23 billion from areas like public education and health and human services. The budget was approved 98-49 on a largely party-line vote late Sunday. Conservatives successfully raided family planning funds, diverting money that was budgeted for preventative health care for women. Unfortunately, one of the recipients of this money was the inefficient and ineffective Alternatives to Abortion program, which funds unlicensed crisis pregnancy centers. You can learn more about the many problems with this program in our brand-new report, now available on our website.
The implications of the budget debate could be significant losses for women and families. During this budget crisis we had hoped to see funds shifted away from expensive and inefficient programs and into preventative health care and family planning for women—which, as we all know, saves the state money. But rather than crafting a thoughtful budget that made hard choices, as the Appropriations Committee sought to do, a majority of the House used the budget to score political points and push an agenda without regard for the long-term negative impacts on our state.
We hope to see you at the Senate Health & Human Services Committee hearing on Tuesday to show your support for SB 585 and 575, which would expand access to preventative care and family planning services. On Wednesday, the House Committee on Public Health will meet and consider bills that would also help expand the Women’s Health Program. Please help us support these important bills and the legislators who filed them in order to improve and expand programs that serve women and families and keep Texas healthy.
Thank you, Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
March 28, 2011 Friends and Allies, Last week was a busy one for reproductive health legislation and bills seeking to restrain abortion rights and reduce access to abortion care. On Tuesday, the House Committee on Health & Human Services heard testimony on two bills that would improve and expand the Women’s Health Program. On Thursday, the House State Affairs Committee heard six anti-choice bills. While none of these bills was voted out of committee, they remain pending and can be passed and sent to the Calendars Committee with no notice. The “Choose Life” license plate bill (HB 238)--which would create a funding stream for anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers--has been sent to the House Calendars Committee and will be scheduled for debate on the House floor in the near future. There are no bills set for hearings in legislative committees this week as the House prepares to hear the budget on Friday. We will keep our eyes and ears on the Legislature and keep you informed! Thank you,
Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
March 21, 2011 Friends and Allies, Legislation has been moving fast this week. Several anti-choice bills have moved into committee and five will be heard in the House State Affairs committee on Wednesday. These bills restrict minors in need of judicial bypass of parental notification; create criminal offenses for physicians who fail to meet specific reporting requirements; and further prohibit insurance coverage for abortion. We are excited to announce that two pro-choice bills relating to women’s health, preventative care, and family planning are being heard in committee this week. These bills support women and reproductive health by extending the women’s health demonstration project and automatically enrolling eligible women to receive services. Thank you,
Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
March 14, 2011 Friday, March 11 was the bill filing deadline for the 2011 Legislative session. Anti-choice legislators seem dedicated pushing as much legislation as possible through the House and Senate, and several new bills have been filed aimed at limiting access to safe legal abortion. Among other things, these bills would prohibit insurance providers from covering abortion and place undue burden on women and medical providers. HB 2988, filed on Thursday by Tan Parker of Flower Mound, would limit a woman’s abortion access to situations deemed medically necessary to prevent severe physical impairment or death. By so narrowly defining the circumstances when women may seek abortion, this proposed legislation severely limits women’s ability to make appropriate medical decisions for themselves and their families. Fortunately, amidst the onslaught of anti-choice legislation, Rep. Ana Hernandez Luna of Houston filed legislation aimed at informing women about the specific services crises pregnancy centers provide. HB 3230 proposes that all non-medically licensed pregnancy centers shall post signs in English and Spanish explaining that they do not provide or make referrals for birth control and/or abortion services. This legislation holds CPCs accountable for their deceptive advertising and supports women in making informed medical decisions. If you would like any information on how to help pass this legislation, please get in touch! Thank you,
Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
March 7, 2011 Friends and Allies, It has been an intense week in the Legislature, with a slew of anti-choice legislation being discussed. Bills regarding mandatory sonograms, pro-life license plates that fund crisis pregnancy centers, and restrictions on insurance coverage for abortion were all either discussed in committee or debated on the House floor. Pro-choice members of the House were able to delay HB 15 due to violations of procedural rules—but the delay was only temporary and the bill was returned to committee, once again placed on the “Emergency State Calendar,” and debated on Thursday. After 7 hours of debate—and despite the valiant efforts of pro-choice Representatives—the bill passed to third reading in the House 103-42. It was taken up again on third reading Monday, where it passed 107-42 and will be sent to the Senate for consideration. As SB 16 and HB 15 have been passed in their respective chambers, it seems that Texas women and clinic staff will soon be dealing with these invasive and unnecessary sonogram requirements. The final version of this legislation is yet to be determined. If you have any questions about what this may mean for clinic staff and patients, please contact us and we will help you in any way possible. In other news, “Operation Rescue,” a Christian anti-choice group with the goal of closing all abortion clinics and criminally prosecuting doctors who perform abortions, released an undercover report last week claiming privacy, health, and legal violations at Texas clinics. Operation Rescue submitted the report to Attorney General Greg Abbott last Wednesday, and the AG’s office referred the report to DSHS (the state agency that licenses and inspects abortion clinics) for investigation. For an eloquent response to the report from one Texas clinic, please check here. We will do our best to keep you informed about ramifications of this report and any further actions by Operation Rescue. Thank you, Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
February 25, 2011 Friends and Allies,
Legislation is moving fast this week - several bills related to insurance, funding, and tax revenue use for the costs of an abortion have moved into their respective committees. In addition, on Wednesday afternoon HB 15, another invasive sonogram bill, breezed through committee. The opposition’s goal of legislatively imposing their beliefs, regardless of each individual woman’s personal situation, seems to have a lot of support in the house. Rep. Berman of Tyler testified for the bill, saying that the number of babies lost to abortion since Roe v. Wade is “nine times the Holocaust.” This statement highlights the incendiary claims of the anti-choice movement.
With two sonogram bills set to be considered in the coming weeks in the House and Senate, respectively, Rick Perry seems sure to get an early win—at the cost of Texas women’s privacy and ability to make their own medical decisions in consultation with their doctors. We are committed to doing all that we can to stop this invasive, anti-health and anti-privacy legislation. We hope to see you at any upcoming hearings. If you can’t make it to Austin, we would be happy to discuss with you ways that you can voice your opinions to your legislators.
Until then, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact info@prochoicetexas.org.
Thank you, Your friends at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
February 23, 2011
House to Take Up Anti-Choice Bill This Morning - We Need Your Voice! By Sara Cleveland, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas Executive Director As you may know, last week the Senate passed a mandatory ultrasound bill, and now it’s on the way to the House. After this morning's House session, the House State Affairs committee will listen to testimony from people for and against the mandatory ultrasound bill. This bill would force doctors to describe the fetus and make audible the heartbeat as they perform an ultrasound before a woman can access abortion care – even if the woman has asked not to hear it! The bill interferes in the doctor-patient relationship. Anti-choice politicians should not put their agenda in the examining room with the doctor and the patient. Additionally, the bill would mandate that the ultrasound be done at least 24 hours before a woman can access abortion, which would mean that women would have to make two separate trips to the clinic. If this bill becomes law, it’s just going to make it more difficult and complicated for women to access abortion care. Are you as outraged by this as we are? If so, here’s how you can help: It’s going to be a brutal fight and we’re thankful to have your support.
February 14, 2011 Senator West Needs To Hear From You Right Now! By Sara Cleveland, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas Executive Director This bill would force doctors to describe the fetus and make audible the heartbeat as they perform an ultrasound before a woman can access abortion care – even if the woman has asked not to hear it! The bill interferes in the doctor-patient relationship. Anti-choice politicians should not put their agenda in the examining room with the doctor and the patient. Additionally, the bill would mandate that the ultrasound be done at least 24 hours before a woman can access abortion, which would mean that women would have to make two separate trips to the clinic. If this bill becomes law, it’s just going to make it more difficult and complicated for women to access abortion care. Are you as outraged by this as we are? If so, here’s how you can help: Click HERE to make a donation to help continue funding our legislative efforts. It’s going to be a brutal fight and we’re thankful to have your support.
81st Legislative Session Wrap-Up (June 2009) By Blake Rocap, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas Legislative Counsel Another legislative session has come and gone, leaving Texans feeling as though they have been in a minor car accident and need to check in to make sure everything is okay. I'm happy to share that in the area of reproductive rights we have escaped without anti-choice elected officials adding any new restrictions to access to abortion care or additional burdensome requirements imposed upon the courageous providers in our state.
There were two anti-choice bills that loomed large as they made their way through the process during the legislative session. The first, by Sen. Dan Patrick and Rep. Frank Corte, would have required women to undergo -- and view -- an ultrasound prior to having an abortion. Additionally, it would have imposed more requirements on doctors and clinic staff while at the same time dictating the practice of medicine and interfering with the doctor-patient relationship. NARAL Pro-Choice Texas worked in concert with abortion providers and our other allies in the medical community to form a bipartisan coalition of senators that forced Sen. Patrick to relent on the uncompromising language of his original bill before it would be voted out of the Senate. The second piece of anti-choice legislation was a Targeted Restriction on Abortion Providers -- or TRAP -- bill. This proposal would have required any physician who performed an abortion to report private information about the patient and procedure to the state. While this bill passed the House State Affairs committee, we were again able to find just enough votes in the Senate to block it.
A bad piece of legislation that got more attention and chances than it deserved was the bill to create a "Choose Life" specialty plate. The funds generated from sales of this plate would have gone to unlicensed, unregulated crisis pregnancy centers that provide no medical services but instead masquerade as clinics and provide coercive counseling against choosing to terminate a pregnancy. Prior to the beginning of the legislative session, in what was widely regarded as political pandering, Gov. Perry held a press conference to announce his support for the bill... and why not? The anti-choice movement that makes up his support base loves this bill because it provides them with funding to continue to support anti-choice politicians. This bill has been filed six times, and requests through the Texas Department of Transportation to create the bill have also been denied. This was the bill that came closest to passing, as it was resurrected several times through various procedural machinations. Sen. Carona authored the bill; it was referred to the Senate transportation committee, which he chairs, but our allies on the committee let him know that they had the votes to keep the bill from moving through the process. So he had it re-referred to a friendlier committee. It was amended on two other transportation-related bills, including the TXDOT sunset bill through which it almost passed into law, but in a nice bit of irony Sen. Carona killed that bill by threatening a filibuster because his local option gas tax provision was not included in the final version.
Once again, this session we had to know the process and the rules better and work harder because the anti-choice majority controls the leadership positions and outnumbers the pro-choice legislators. There is no greater example of this than the budget process. At the beginning of the session, Health & Human Services Commission had requested an additional three million dollars for the funding of crisis pregnancy centers. Neither the House Appropriations Committee nor the Senate Finance Committee agreed to provide this extra funding and neither chamber passed this funding when the budget was originally debated. However, in the conference committee on the budget -- in which leaders from each chamber are supposed to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of bills -- the anti-choice members again provided more funding for this controversial and wasteful program.
In addition to stopping all of the bad bills we did see a few successes. The reimbursement rate for oral contraception from the State to clinics and doctors that serve low-income women went up, which should help more women who need access to health care. We worked on many pieces of legislation that would have had a positive impact on women's health and our communities and state, including greater access to contraception and EC for survivors of sexual assault, medically accurate sex education, a bill to stop the state from linking abortion to breast cancer in its mandatory materials, and multiple bills that tried in one way or another to prevent unplanned pregnancies and reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy. While none of these bills passed, many received hearings and there was a more productive conversation on these issues than there had been last session, during which most of these bills were not heard in committee.
The only way we are going to have more successful legislative sessions is to take back the political power in the legislature! So please continue to stay involved in your communities and help us elect more pro-choice candidates so we can improve reproductive health across all of Texas.
--ARCHIVES-- February 12, 2009 On February 12, the big news from the legislature was the announcement of committee assignments for the Texas House. Although the anti-choice majority shrank in November with the election of several new representatives, including NARAL Pro-Choice Texas-endorsed Kristi Thibaut and Diana Maldonado, the threat to womens' health through irresponsible budgeting and attempts to deny women access to safe and legal abortion through overregulation and intimidation will continue. Why Are Committees Important? Committee assignments and chairmanships have a great impact on the legislation that will be debated by the full House. Commitee chairs have the discretion to hear or not hear any bill referred to their committee. This is important because every bill must have a committee hearing and be approved by a majority of committee members before it can proceed to the full house for debate and possibly become law. Below, you will find a list of the committees which are likely to have an impact on women's health legislation in 2009, as well as their members' scores on matters of reproductive choice (taken from our 2007 Legislative Scorecard). As you can see by the scores of these committees, and with anti-choice members as chairmen controlling what bills receive hearings, it looks like another difficult session for women's health in Texas. House Committee on Appropriations Rep. Jim | Pitts | 0% | Rep. Richard | Raymond | 100% | Rep. Norma | Chavez | 100% | Rep. Myra | Crownover | 0% | Rep. Dawnna | Dukes | 100% | Rep. Al | Edwards | 89% | Rep. Ismael "Kino" | Flores | 100% | Rep. Helen | Giddings | 100% | Rep. Carl | Isett | 0% | Rep. Ruth | Jones McClendon | 100% | Rep. Geanie | Morrison | 0% | Rep. Debbie | Riddle | 0% | Rep. Mike | Villarreal | 100% | Rep. Jimmie Don | Aycock | 0% | Rep. Fred | Brown | 0% | Rep. Ellen | Cohen | 100% | Rep. Button | Angie Chen | | Rep.Brandon | Creighton | 0% | Rep. Drew | Darby | 0% | Rep. Joe | Driver | 0% | Rep. Craig | Eiland | 100% | Rep. Abel | Herrero | 100% | Rep. Scott | Hochberg | 100% | Rep. Susan | King | 0% | Rep. John | Otto | 0% | Rep. John | Zerwas | 0% | Rep. Doug | Miller | | Committee Average | | 48% |
House Committee on Public Health Rep. Lois | Kolkhorst | 0% | Rep. Elliot | Naishtat | 100% | Rep. Garnet | Coleman | 100% | Rep. Chuck | Hopson | 0% | Rep. Jim | McReynolds | 0% | Rep. Vicki | Truitt | 0% | Rep. John | Davis | 0% | Rep. Veronica | Gonzales | 100% | Rep. Susan | King | 0% | Rep. Jodie Anne | Laubenberg | 0% | Rep. John | Zerwas | 0% | Committee Average | | 27% |
House Committee on Human Services Rep. Patrick | Rose | 100% | Rep. Abel | Herrero | 100% | Rep. Elliot | Naishtat | 100% | Rep. Drew | Darby | 0% | Rep. Gary | Elkins | 0% | Rep. Ana | Hernandez | 100% | Rep. Bryan | Hughes | 0% | Rep. Ken | Legler | | Rep. Armando | Walle | | Committee Average | | 57% |
House Committee on State Affairs Rep. Burt | Solomons | 0% | Rep. Jose | Menendez | 50% | Rep. Tom | Craddick | 0% | Rep. Pete | Gallego | 100% | Rep. Harvey | Hilderbran | 0% | Rep. Rene | Oliveira | 100% | Rep. David | Swinford | 9% | Rep. Sylvester | Turner | 100% | Rep. Byron | Cook | 14% | Rep. David | Farabee | 0% | Rep. Charlie | Geren | 0% | Rep. Patricia | Harless | 0% | Rep. Delwin | Jones | 0% | Rep. Eddie | Lucio III | 0% | Rep. Diana | Maldonado | | Committee Average | | 27% |
House Committee on Calendars Rep. Brian | McCall | 0% | Rep. Eddie | Lucio III | 0% | Rep. Norma | Chavez | 100% | Rep. Garnet | Coleman | 100% | Rep. Byron | Cook | 14% | Rep.Brandon | Creighton | 0% | Rep. Charlie | Geren | 0% | Rep. James | Keffer | 0% | Rep. Lois | Kolkhorst | 0% | Rep. Edmund | Kuempel | 0% | Rep. Jim | McReynolds | 0% | Rep. Allan | Ritter | 50% | Rep. Burt | Solomons | 0% | Committee Average | | 20% |
House Committee on Transportation Rep. Joe | Pickett | 0% | Rep. Larry | Phillips | 0% | Rep. William "Bill" | Callegari | 0% | Rep. Yvonne | Davis | 100% | Rep. Tommy | Merrit | 0% | Rep. Todd | Smith | 0% | Rep. Jim | Dunnam | 100% | Rep. Ryan | Guillen | 0% | Rep. Linda | Harper-Brown | 0% | Rep. Ruth | Jones McClendon | 100% | Rep. Wayne | Smith | 0% | Committee Average | | 27% |
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