Five House Republicans attempted to add exceptions to the Texas Heartbeat Act.
Genuine Pro-Lifers know that the goal of the Pro-Life movement is to protect all innocent human Life from fertilization until natural death. Naturally, this includes completely ending the legal killing of preborn children through abortion.
To this end, the Texas Legislature accomplished a historical Pro-Life victory by passing the first ever Heartbeat law to take effect since the pernicious ruling of Roe v. Wade (1973).
This life-saving law has already saved over 13,000 preborn children since taking effect in September and has brought us considerably closer toward our movement’s goal of ending all legalized abortion.
Shockingly, five self-proclaiming “Pro-Life” Republicans filed legislation in Fall 2021 displaying their disagreement with ending all legal abortion. This group of legislators publicly demonstrated their belief that some preborn children do not deserve the Right to Life — even after the baby’s heartbeat is detected!
This may come as a shock, but during the third Special Session of the 87th Texas legislature Representative Lyle Larson (R-San Antonio) filed a bill that would add exceptions of rape and incest to the Texas Heartbeat Act.
Not only did Rep. Larson file this anti-Life bill, but Rep. Stan Lambert (R-Abilene), Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth), Rep. Geanie Morrison (R-Victoria), and Rep. Sam Harless (R-Spring) all joined him in co-authoring the disastrous legislation.
Cases of rape and incest are undeniably awful. No decent human would ever argue that such a disgusting violation of women should be permitted or belittled.
Moreso, we can all hopefully agree that Texas must do more legislatively and culturally to ensure perpetrators of this violence are held fully accountable and that potential victims are protected.
Yet punishing the innocent preborn child for the sins of her father is not justice. In fact, encouraging the death of an innocent baby for the crimes of a calloused criminal only multiplies the injustice which has already been committed.
We should undoubtedly support women in these extremely difficult circumstances. But we must not look at a woman in her trauma and suggest she increase the trauma of rape or incest by adding the willful participation in her own child’s demise as some sort of solution.
Ending the preborn child’s life will not undo the violence the mother should have never endured. Instead, abortion only multiplies the violence by adding an entirely new victim to the heartbreaking offence.
Thankfully, the Texas Heartbeat Act already specifies that a man who sexually assaults a woman and causes her to become pregnant has no standing to sue anyone under the law’s civil cause of action.
Similarly, the Texas Heartbeat Act does not allow for the mother of the preborn child to be sued for pursuing or having an abortion.
The law only permits the abortionist and those who aid and abet in the abortion to be sued, since these are the people who profit off pressuring a woman into this devastating decision.
Rape and incest are disgusting and tragic acts of violence. Likewise, abortion is also a disgusting and tragic act of violence.
Adding exceptions for abortion in cases of rape and incest to our law only increases the violence and ends the life of an innocent child.
We will support women, and we will condemn criminals, but we will not call for innocent children’s lives to be brutally taken through abortion.
We encourage each of you to stand with us in the fight for Life. Next election cycle, remember the anti-Life Republicans who stood against the defense of the preborn and called for women’s pain to be multiplied in horrifically difficult times.
Rep. Larson has thankfully already announced he will not be running for HD 122 again, but we must vote out the other frauds.
Texas needs legislators who will advocate for all innocent human Life, without exceptions.
