By: Renzo Downey
Joe Pojman, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life, one of the organizations in a coalition that opposed SB 2089 — which also includes the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops — said the coalition was not consulted on the change to 45 days and had not yet met to discuss that alteration. However, the Alliance for Life appreciated Lucio’s amendment, he said.
By: STEPHEN YOUNG
Texas Alliance for Life, one of the state’s biggest anti-abortion advocacy groups, actually came out against the bill. Passing HB 1500, according to the group, could actually strengthen abortion providers in Texas due to the attorneys’ fees Texas could be forced to shell out if they are sued over the law.
The measure “bans abortions on non-viable abortions when the heartbeat is detected, which the Supreme Court does not permit,” the group said in explaining its decision. “This law has been passed in three states and struck down in all three, Arkansas, North Dakota and Iowa. Requests by Arkansas and North Dakota to review the cases have been denied by the Supreme Court.”
By: Arya Sundaram
Meanwhile, Joe Pojman, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life, fears that any legal battle could uphold abortion rights while funneling potentially millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees to abortion providers. Those worries stem from a legal battle over a 2013 Texas statelaw that required doctors who performed abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and forced clinics to comply with the standards of ambulatory surgical centers.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down key provisions of that law in late 2016. The decision has been hailed by abortion rightsadvocates as their biggest Supreme Court victory since Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a case that reaffirmed the constitutional right of abortion established in Roe v. Wade. The attorneys’ fees from that case still haven’t been resolved in court, but the state could pay roughly $4.5 million.
“That’s a big setback because it’d be a windfall for the abortion industry,” Pojman said. “More than a dozen cases are in the pipeline to overturn Roe v. Wade. We don’t need any more.”
By: TONY GUAJARDO
Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life said, “Our goal is to completely protect unborn babies from abortion beginning at fertilization. However, at this time we are not recommending the Texas Legislature support the heartbeat bill and other bills that have little chance of surviving a federal court challenge.”
He continued, “The bad precedent of a loss will be used to strike down more pro-life laws in Texas and other states. The 2016 loss in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt in which the Supreme Court struck down safety regulations at abortion facilities has been used to strike down a number of laws in other states. It is heartbreaking to see that happen in state after state.”
By: Gardner Selby
The Texas Alliance for Life, another anti-abortion group, doesn’t oppose the bill, but it’s not recommending it. In April, it said it doesn’t think the bar on abortions before fetal viability can hold up in court. “It will not survive a federal court challenge and will save no lives. The result will be more bad precedent and huge attorneys’ fees for the plaintiffs,” the alliance’s Joe Pojman wrote. His post also said: “We hope that in coming years there will be enough votes on the Supreme Court to uphold a bill like this.” Texans for Life, another anti-abortion group, also has no position on the bill.
By: Corey Olson
Pro-life advocates strongly support SB 2243 and are cheering its continued progress. Dr. Joe Pojman with Texas Alliance for Life tells KTRH that the legislation makes perfect sense. “We need to remember that abortion is an irreversible decision that claims the life of an unborn child,” he says. “Women need all the information they can get before they make that decision, to figure out if it is the best decision for them.”
Opponents of SB 2243 claim it lacks protections, like requiring the counselor be a licensed medical professional. But Pojman says the information required by the bill could only be shared by qualified personnel. “This is very important information about the characteristics of the unborn child, about alternatives to abortion, about sex trafficking,” he explains. “All things that women are going to find very helpful before they decide whether to have an abortion.”
Despite its passage in the Senate, SB 2243 faces uncertainty in the House due to the limited time left in the 2019 Legislative Session. Still, Pojman believes it has a good chance of passage in a session that has seen other pro-life bills stall out. “There’s still plenty of time for the bill to get considered and voted on,” he says. “And if it gets to the floor, we are very confident that it has the votes to pass the full House and get to the governor’s desk.”