Published

June 23, 2023

 

Austin, TX — Texas Alliance for Life, a leading statewide pro-life organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death, joyously commemorates the one-year anniversary of the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, by the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion — not in the text and not in this nation’s history and traditions.

That landmark decision overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade and 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey precedents, which prevented states from protecting unborn babies from abortion before viability. Shortly afterward, the Human Life Protection Act, a top legislative priority for Texas Alliance for Life in 2021, went into effect, protecting unborn babies in Texas from conception through birth. The results have been dramatic. Beginning in August 2022, elective abortions have plummeted from thousands per month to zero, as reported by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Meanwhile, Texas provides vast resources for women with unplanned pregnancies through hundreds of publicly and privately funded agencies and programs across the state.

Texas Alliance for Life’s executive director, Joe Pojman, Ph.D., has these comments:

We celebrate the thousands of innocent unborn babies saved from abortion in Texas and throughout the country by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

When Roe fell, Texas was ready. In 2021 the Legislature passed and Governor Greg Abbott signed the Human Life Protection Act, which went into effect shortly after the Dobbs decision. For decades, the Legislature and the private sector have provided vast resources for women with unplanned pregnancies.

Texas has shown it not only cares about protecting unborn babies and their mothers from abortion but also about taking care of babies, women, and families long after birth.

We thank Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Speaker Dade Phelan, and the pro-life members of the Legislature for their leadership in passing life-saving legislation and prioritizing support for Texas women and babies.

Background:

During the most recent session ending in May, the Legislature appropriated a substantial increase to the already generous funding previously appropriated to assist low-income women, especially women with unplanned pregnancies.

• Texas’ highly successful Alternatives to Abortion program will receive a $25 million increase in the current budget cycle and $140 million over the 2024-2025 biennium beginning September 1, a 65% percent increase over the amount appropriated in 2021.

• That program provides services for women facing unplanned pregnancies to assist them in carrying the unborn child to term, giving birth, and keeping or placing the baby for adoption. Support is available for at least three years after birth from nearly 200 pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies across the state, serving 137,000 yearly, far more than the 55,000 abortions in Texas in 2020. Women’s care at these centers includes pregnancy confirmation, counseling, moral support, and services to free women from sex trafficking, domestic violence, or substance abuse. The centers also provide maternity and baby clothes and diapers for clients’ babies. Budgeting, parenting, pregnancy classes, job skills training, and referrals to other government agencies are also available. Hundreds more privately funded centers and church-based programs offer similar services across Texas.

• For uninsured pregnant women with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, the Legislature appropriated $2.35 billion for the state’s Medicaid program for prenatal, childbirth, and follow-up care for mothers and babies for 12 months. The Medicaid program pays for more than half of births in Texas.

• The Legislature appropriated $446 million for other women’s health services. The HealthyTexasWomen.org website lists thousands of providers offering various free services for low-income women, such as breast and cervical cancer screening, family planning, pregnancy testing, pelvic exams, sexually transmitted infection services, screening for and treatment of cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

CONTACT:
Amy O’Donnell, Director of Communications
amy@texasallianceforlife.org
512.477.1244 (o)

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