AUSTIN, Texas -- Women in Texas would be required to go through counseling before getting an abortion, under a proposal moving through the Legislature.
- Senate Bill 2243 moves forward
- Would require women to get counseling before abortion
- Now going to House for consideration
The Texas Senate gave final approval to the bill Friday, sending it to the House for consideration. Supporters of the bill believe counseling is needed to makes sure pregnant women know about available resources, but opponents fear these counselors would not be medically qualified.
In a 20-10 vote Friday, the Texas Senate advanced Senate Bill 2243, which mandates pre-abortion counseling. It would be free of charge to women and include detailing the medical risks of the procedure and alternatives to terminating a pregnancy.
“What we want is for a woman to be able to truly have informed consent, so that she's not having to deal with later on, ‘I wish I had known that that was available or that was available, because I might have made a different choice,’ and it's a pretty significant choice,” said Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, who authored the bill.
Under the bill, counselors would have to inform pregnant women about housing, employment, child care, and adoption assistance. It also requires screening for domestic violence and human trafficking.
“To the extent that someone would consider something like this a burden or an extra layer, I think providing a woman with more information specific to her situation is anything but a burden to her,” Paxton said.
As the bill is written, the information has to be “medically accurate,” but abortion rights advocates said those materials historically have not been.
“It would add extra layers having to go to crisis pregnancy centers. These centers have been known to delay the process, lie to patients about how many weeks along they are, and lied to them and make them feel like they do have enough time to seek an abortion,” said Delma Limones, communications manager for NARAL Pro-Choice Texas.
Texas law already requires women to make two trips to providers and wait 24 hours after looking at sonograms before having an abortion.
“Crisis pregnancy centers exist solely for the purpose to dissuade people from seeking abortion services,” Limones said. “We're really concerned that this bill would add added layers to the already difficult process of seeking an abortion.”
There is also no condition that counselors must be licensed health care professionals.
Paxton said she is leaving oversight and design of the program to the expertise of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
“This is something that is going to allow (a woman), whatever decision she makes, to have more peace about it,” Paxton said.
