AUSTIN, Texas, July 12, 2013
/Christian Newswire/ -- The eyes of the nation are turned towards
Austin, Texas this week, as the Texas Legislature, called by Governor
Perry for a second special session,
considers a pro-life bill that failed to pass during the first special
session because of a widely-publicized filibuster and the angry chants
of abortion industry protestors.Photo: Blue-Shirted Pro-Life Advocates Gather in Prayer
The bill (HB 2, SB 1), that passed the Texas House on Wednesday by a vote of 96-49, will be up for debate on the floor of the Texas Senate today at 2:00 p.m. Gov. Rick Perry has pledged to sign the bill into law if passed by the Senate. The bill, authored by Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R-Parker) and sponsored by Sen. Glen Hegar (R-Katy), is an unparalleled opportunity to protect mothers and innocent unborn babies in Texas. If passed, the bill would:
- Increase safety standards for 36 licensed abortion facilities to the level of ambulatory surgical centers
(ASCs), there are 420 ASCs in Texas, including six that perform
abortions. We believe all abortion providers should be held to that
level of safety that all other ambulatory surgical providers must
provide.
- Require the 18,000 RU-486
abortions performed each year in Texas be done according to FDA safety
standards, not the off-label standards currently being used by the Texas
abortion industry.
- Require
physicians who perform abortions to be qualified to treat
life-threatening complications after botched abortions by having
privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion facility, and
- Ban abortions on unborn children beginning at five months of pregnancy, when scientific evidence clearly shows babies can feel pain, pregnancy is safer than abortion, and children have survived upon birth at this age. An exception to this ban is granted to protect the life and medical health of the mother or when the unborn child has "a severe fetal abnormality."
Jubilee Campaign's Law of Life Project (JC-LOLP) provided written and oral testimony before the Senate Committee this past Monday. JC-LOLP attorney Bart Waxman testified on behalf of JC-LOLP arguing that:
"This law protects women and unborn children in three ways, all of which are constitutional. . . . [A]ll of [the Bill's] requirements are consistent with the right to abortion created in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) and affirmed in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), and Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007). None of these requirements create a substantial obstacle to the access to abortion."
Most Americans favor banning abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll. But the poll also shows many Americans remain conflicted in their views on abortion.
Another thing the Texas bill does is regulate the off-label use of abortion-causing drugs, such as RU-486. The Texas bill is similar to an Oklahoma law that was enacted in 2011. The Oklahoma law was challenged by pro-abortion advocates and has now made its way up the United States Supreme Court (in a case known as Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice). JC-LOLP's attorneys represented pro-life medical doctors who submitted a "friends of the Court" brief in support of Oklahoma's legislation. Representing the doctors, JC-LOLP submitted to the Court the medical rationale behind the Oklahoma legislation: After RU-486 was approved for use, non-approved protocols were developed. Among other things, the off-label protocols involve administering the drugs up to 63 days' gestation, changed the manner in which the drugs were to be administered, and reduced the amount of physician oversight over the administration of the drugs.
Eight women have died from bacterial infections following an RU-486 medical abortion administered according to one of the off-label protocols, whereas no women have died from such infections following use of the FDA-approved protocol. Thus, the Oklahoma Legislature acted to address this serious health and safety problem by requiring that RU-486 and other abortion-inducing drugs be administered according to the FDA's prescribed protocol.
The pro-abortion Oklahoma Supreme Court held -- without analysis or discussion -- that the Oklahoma law is facially unconstitutional under Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The U.S. Supreme Court granted the state of Oklahoma's request to review that decision, and asked the Supreme Court of Oklahoma to answer whether the Oklahoma law prohibits: (1) the use of misoprostol to induce abortions, including the use of misoprostol in conjunction with mifepristone according to a protocol approved by the Food and Drug Administration; and (2) the use of methotrexate to treat ectopic pregnancies. The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed further proceedings in this case until they receive a response from the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.
JC-LOLP will continue to be involved in this case at both the state and federal supreme court levels. Doubtless, the Oklahoma litigation will factor into any suit against the Texas bill, and JC-LOLP will be available to assist Texas in defending the law in whatever means requested.
Another thing the Texas bill does is regulate abortion clinics. Opponents of the bill say that the clinic regulations outlined in the bill would effectively ban abortion in the state by causing the closure of 37 of its 42 abortion clinics. What these individuals fail to understand, however, is that clinic regulations are meant to make them safer for the women who visit them, by treating abortion facilities in the same manner as ambulatory care facilities. These measures will allow for medical transport in the event of emergencies (not uncommon in abortion clinics). Karnamaya Mongar's life might have been saved if the doors in Kermit Gosnell's abortion facility had not been locked and the hallways had been wide enough to facilitate the gurney needed to transport her to a local hospital after her heart stopped beating on Gosnell's abortion table.
Texas is not the only state to attempt to more strictly monitor abortion facilities. For example, earlier this year, Virginia passed abortion clinic regulations intended to carry out a law passed by the state legislature in 2011, which said that the facilities of abortion providers should meet the same standards set by Virginia for its other out-patient surgical facilities. The requirements include, for example, five-foot-wide public hallways, large janitor's closets and at least four parking spaces for each surgical room. JC-LOLP Managing Director and General Counsel, Sam Casey, who on March 12 and April 12, 2013 testified in favor of the Virginia abortion facility regulations, said: "JC-LOLP attorneys stand ready to assist the Texas and Virginia attorneys general in defending their respective state's abortion facility regulations when they inevitably get challenged in court by the abortion industry who opposes any regulations of their sub-standard practices."
About the Jubilee Campaign's Law of Life Project
The Law of Life Project is a public interest legal organization dedicated to legally defending the right to life and dignity of the human being from biological conception until natural death in all matters worldwide where such a defense is required. Jubilee Campaign is an international charitable organization that seeks to be a "voice for the voiceless" promoting the human rights of all, particularly women and children in countries which imprison, terrorize or otherwise oppress them. www.lawoflifeproject.org
