AUSTIN, Texas — State representatives celebrated the passage of the Texas Life of the Mother Act, Senate Bill 31, which is meant to clarify the state’s abortion law by allowing doctors to perform an abortion if a pregnant person has life-threatening complications. The crucial vote follows the death of three women, who died after being denied abortion care, and criticism toward the Texas Medical Board and state Supreme Court for failing to provide clarity.
“If the doctor can save the child, the doctor’s got to save the child. If the doctor cannot save the child in order to save the life of the mother, then the child will not survive,” said Texas Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth.
Geren’s bill passed with bipartisan support, but more hardline conservative members—who designated themselves as present not voting—picked apart the bill saying there could be loopholes that allow for illegal abortions. Under the bill, doctors can intervene in life-threatening situations when death isn’t imminent, such as cancer treatments.
“There have been some malicious interpretations of the existing law, which I think is a good law, that have left some doctors in a situation that they are, unclear about what they’re supposed to do. And I think people that want to promote abortion have tried to make it murky,” said state Rep. Brent Money, R-Greenville.
State Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, who is an anesthesiologist, says when a pregnancy threatens a mother’s life, the baby will die regardless.
“We are not talking about circumstances where the baby could be delivered and could survive even in an ICU,” he said. “These are the heartbreaking circumstance faces that you’re trying to address, so that doctors feel like they can actually use their judgment in these heartbreaking scenarios without having to lose two patients.”
Immediately after the Texas Life of the Mother Act, the House majority moved forward a bill to ban governmental entities from paying for out-of-state abortion travel, Senate Bill 33, by a vote of 89-57. Austin and San Antonio have both done this in recent years. Cities suspected of violating the bill could face a lawsuit from the state attorney general.
“So the wording of this bill is that cities, if they’re sued, may not use protections of personal freedom and public freedom as a defense,” said state Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston.
“Our goal once again is to never have a city be sued because they are so in compliance with this law,” rebutted Rep. Candy Noble, R-Lucas.
The House amended the abortion travel ban, sending it back to the Texas Senate. The Life of the Mother Act has one more formal House vote before going to the governor.
