How We Prioritize Pro-Life Legislation in Texas

The Texas Legislature convenes only once every two years for a 140-day session. In this short timeframe, thousands of bills are filed, but fewer than half will pass—and even fewer will address Pro-Life issues. The Texas Right to Life legislative team provides lawmakers with clear priorities, ensuring the most effective Pro-Life bills receive attention. Without this guidance, the Legislature may settle for weaker measures or overlook Pro-Life legislation altogether.

For a bill to meet our “priority” criteria it must do three things:

✅ Save Lives – Directly stop abortions and protect preborn children.

✅ Be Legally Prudent – Be carefully drafted to withstand legal challenges.

✅ Advance the Cultural Conversation – Expose abortion’s inhumanity, affirm the dignity of the preborn, and grow the Pro-Life movement.

We support other Pro-Life bills as important steps, but if our priority bills fail, we cannot call the session a success—even if every recommended bill passes.

First, our priority bills must directly save lives. Every session, legislators file plenty of measures that feel good, but don’t do anything to actually stop abortions. A bill to honor the lives lost to abortion is noble indeed, but its passage won’t prevent any future abortions from happening. We are happy to support these policies, and may even testify in their favor if needed. However, we cannot rank these among our few priorities.

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Second, our bills must lead to legal and judicial victories. We want to pass bills that protect innocent human Life. However, our efforts are wasted if that new law gets blocked in the courts. If we put our time, energy, and resources into passing a bill, we want to be certain that it will go into effect. We expect every one of our policies to be challenged in some way by pro-abortion activists, so we draft them carefully to withstand these legal challenges.

Third, the bill must advance the cultural conversation on Life. Even if a bill is effective and prudent, we proceed with caution if it might harm our cause in the long-term. The overall goal of our Pro-Life movement is to eradicate abortion from our cultural conscience. We want our legislation to highlight the humanity of the preborn child and point hearts and minds to the Pro-Life view.

Using this metric, Texas Right to Life determined our two Pro-Life priorities for this session: the Woman and Child Protection Act and the Stop Tax Funded Abortion Services Act.

Priority 1: Woman and Child Protection Act

(Senate Bill 2880 by Senator Brian Hughes (R-Mineola) and House Bill 5510 by Representative Jeff Leach (R-Allen))

Abortion pills are extremely dangerous for both the mothers and preborn children. Yet, about 19,000 abortion pills are being ordered into Texas using online platforms from around the country and the globe. This bill will add a number of tools to our existing Pro-Life arsenal, directly targeting those who distribute these lethal pills. It will also allow women harmed by these dangerous drugs to sue those responsible for selling and facilitating them.

Priority 2: Stopping Cities from Funding Abortion Travel

(Senate Bill 703 By Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) and House Bill 1806 by Candy Noble (R-Lucas))

Texas law prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion providers, but cities have exploited loopholes to fund abortion through third-party “abortion funds.” These groups cover travel costs—flights, hotels, meals, and more—for women seeking abortions out of state. In 2023, the first full year without Roe v. Wade, at least 15,000 women left Texas for abortions. Cities like Austin and San Antonio are actively trying to increase that number using taxpayer funds. This bill will close this loophole and ensure Texans’ tax dollars are never used to support abortion in any form.

The fight to protect Life in Texas is not finished. The Woman and Child Protection Act and the Stop Tax-Funded Abortion Services Act are the next prudent steps for the Pro-Life movement, meeting our priority criteria by directly saving lives, being legally sound, and advancing the cultural conversation on Life. By passing these bills, we will stop the flow of abortion pills, prevent taxpayer-funded abortion travel, and strengthen Texas’ Pro-Life protections.