Texas law soon will protect the rights of newborns who survive abortion attempts and will impose a fine of at least $100,000 on health care providers who don’t give proper care to abortion survivors.
“I was proud to sign HB 16 into law, and I am grateful for Representative Leach’s leadership to help protect the most vulnerable in our society,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal, referring to state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Collin County, author of the measure.
“In the face of growing disregard for basic human dignity, the state of Texas is taking a strong stand for life on behalf of unborn children and abortion survivors,” Abbott, also a Republican, said. “I remain committed to fostering a culture of life in Texas and building upon our proud record of defending innocent life.”
Under House Bill 16, called the Texas Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, a physician or other health care provider may be held liable for providing adequate care to an infant who survives an attempted abortion, a third-degree felony with a criminal penalty: a minimum fine of $100,000.
Professional care, as defined by the new law, requires the physician responsible for the operation to “immediately transfer” the newborn to a hospital.
Abbott signed the bill June 17. The measure, which takes effect Sept. 1, reads:
The physician must exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious physician would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational stage.
In this subsection, “professional skill, care, and diligence” includes a requirement that the physician who performed or attempted the abortion ensure that the child born alive be immediately transferred to a hospital.
“Where other states are passing legislation protecting abortionists … and where Washington, D.C., can’t even bring the bill up for a vote, Texas will act,” Leach, author of the bill and chairman of the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee, said in an April 16 news conference as the bill advanced.
But pro-choice state lawmakers such as Reps. Julie Johnson of Carrollton, Yvonne Davis of Dallas, Victoria Neave of Dallas, and Jessica Farrar of Houston, all Democrats, said the bill was “unnecessary.”
“We refuse to offend our fellow Texas women, their families, and licensed physicians by wasting time on unnecessary legislation designed to intimidate and restrict women’s access to health care,” the four lawmakers said in a joint statement.
The Dallas Morning News reported March 26 that the four House Democrats “boycotted the committee hearing, temporarily blocking debate” and refused to hear from pro-life activists and “abortion survivors.”
At the time, Leach shared his dismay with their reaction.
“I’m extremely disappointed and disheartened in the decision by my friends and fellow committee members to skip this morning’s hearing simply because they don’t agree on the issue at hand,” Leach said March 26.
The Texas House passed the bill May 23 by a vote of 84-57, after the Senate passed it May 16 by a vote of 21-10.
In the U.S. Senate earlier this year, Republicans attempted to pass federal legislation to ensure abortion survivors receive life-saving care, but Democrats blocked them.
The Senate’s inability to pass such legislation led some states to act on their own versions.
Alabama’s governor, for example, signed into law a bill similar to the Texas measure. It includes harsher consequences such as possible prison time for involved doctors who fail to provide care to infants born alive after an abortion attempt.
