Texas has once again taken a giant leap ahead of the rest of the nation on the morality front by doing what should be self-evident to every freethinking person “from sea to shining sea” by restricting taxpayer-funded abortions.
Signed into law Tuesday by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the new bill will free Texans from paying for “elective abortions through their insurance plans,” according to an article on LifeSiteNews.
“As a firm believer in Texas values I am proud to sign legislation that ensures no Texan is ever required to pay for a procedure that ends the life of an unborn child,” Gov. Abbott said. “This bill prohibits insurance providers from forcing Texas policy holders to subsidize elective abortions. I am grateful to the Texas legislature for getting this bill to my desk, and working to protect innocent life this special session.”
HB-214 includes only an exemption for a medical emergency to save the mother’s life.
“What we’re saying here is: If you want to buy this coverage, you can buy it,” Republican Rep. John Smithee said when the bill hit the state legislature. “This isn’t about who can get an abortion. It is about who is forced to pay for an abortion.”
“Texas must take steps to prohibit taxpayer and premium dollars from subsidizing abortions that are not medically necessary,” Republican Sen. Brandon Creighton said.
Alongside HB-214 was another bill that would “require doctors and health clinics to report abortion complications to the state in greater detail.”
Both bills passed the House and Senate. Pro-life leaders have praised Texas for making the right decision and Gov. Abbott’s backing.
“Just because abortion is legal does not mean that people who have significant moral concerns with the taking of innocent life — as they believe abortion does — need to pay for it through their health insurance,” said Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director in Texas. “Abortion advocates automatically go to the far reaches of hysteria and assume the worst with this kind of legislation: that women won’t be able to get abortions when they want them. Women have access to abortion but those of us who believe it is the intentional ending of a human life shouldn’t have to pay for it.”
Pro-choice advocates constantly tout that abortion is “reproductive rights,” essential to women’s health care and rant that all men need to shut up or face the wrath of Lysistrata. Texas Right to Life director Elizabeth Graham debunked this while testifying before the Texas Senate Committee.
“The definition of health care is to make a person well and to encourage health,” Graham explained. “The definition of a successful abortion is the complete death of the unborn child.”
Democrats opined there should be more exceptions in cases of rape and fetal handicaps, the kind of exceptions they have in Iceland where Down Syndrome babies are on the endangered species list.
Texas has implemented pro-life legislation in the past, including the 20-week abortion ban that made Sen. Wendy Davis an icon for feminists and a failed gubernatorial candidate.
The only states to ban taxpayer-funded abortions are Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.