Texas lawmakers advanced a pro-life bill Aug. 25 to crack down on abortion pill shipments, approving legislation that would allow lawsuits of up to $100,000 against anyone who mails or manufactures the drugs in the state.
The Texas House State Affairs Committee voted 8-4 to send Republican Rep. Jeff Leach’s HB 7, The Woman and Child Protection Act, to the House floor.
According to Texas Right to Life, at least 19,000 abortion drug orders are illegally shipped into Texas each year, despite the state’s total elective abortion ban.
Recent lawsuits highlight the problem. On Aug. 11, a Texas woman sued the father of her child for wrongful death, claiming he laced her drink with abortion drugs and murdered their unborn baby, CatholicVote reported. She is also suing Aid Access, the company that provided him with the drug.
In July, a Texas man filed a lawsuit against a California doctor who allegedly mailed abortion pills to his girlfriend, leading to the death of his two unborn children.
Negotiations over the weekend shaped the final version of the bill. Pro-life leaders, including the Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops, raised concerns about the first draft of HB 7, saying it failed to protect pregnant women and created “bounty hunter” incentives by letting unrelated individuals collect the full $100,000 in damages, The Texan reported.
Texas Right to Life President John Seago told The Texan his group and the bishops spent more than 14 hours working with lawmakers on revisions.
The updated bill caps payouts for unrelated plaintiffs at $10,000, with the remaining $90,000 directed to charity. It also bars convicted abusers — including those guilty of sexual assault, stalking, or coercion — from bringing lawsuits, and it adds new privacy protections to keep women’s medical information from being exposed in court.
The Texas bishops praised the legislation as “another means to prevent the unlawful introduction of drugs into our state for illegal abortions, while ensuring that women suffering from abortion will not be retraumatized by abusers or others willing to harm them for personal gain.”
“We continue to pray for a conversion of hearts, especially by those who manufacture these drugs,” the bishops continued in an Aug. 25 statement. “We exhort all to promote a Culture of Life that tenderly embraces mothers and their children.”
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Author: Elise Winland
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