Pro-Life leaders defended state funding of resources for mothers and families in a Texas House Appropriations Committee hearing this month. Once again, Pro-Lifers crushed the media’s narrative that Pro-Life states hate women.
The mainstream media and Democrats constantly accuse Texas and Pro-Life Republicans of being anti-women and merely pro-birth. Yet, this media narrative was entirely shattered when Democrats viciously attacked the state’s program to provide support and resources to low-income pregnant and new mothers and families.
Attempting to maintain their argument that Pro-Lifers don’t care about women and families, the media has completely ignored the fact that Texas has been providing resources and aid to women and families for years.
The Alternatives to Abortion (A2A) program gives state aid to women and families facing unexpected and difficult pregnancies across the state.
This statewide network, overseen by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), reimburses non-profit pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies for providing critical social services, including counseling, baby and maternity supplies, job skills training, housing and adoption assistance, parenting classes, and more. And the program’s support doesn’t stop at birth either. A2A continues to offer families support as far as three years postpartum.
Yet, this month Democrats in the Texas House Appropriations Committee launched an all-out assault against A2A in attempts to gut the life-saving program.
Their reason? These Democrats hate that A2A offers women and families a life-affirming alternative to abortion and empowers them to choose Life. Democrats went so far as to not only attack A2A, but also the innocent, vulnerable children being born rather than aborted because of Texas Pro-Life laws.
Anti-Life Democrats hoped to use the Texas House Appropriations Committee, which handles the state budget, to defund and cripple the life-saving program.
This month’s hearing included the testimony of three Pro-Life leaders who skillfully defended A2A from Democrats’ cruel attacks. Sylvia Johnson with Houston Pregnancy Help Center, Debbie Simmons with Anchor Point, and Chelsey Youman with Human Coalition stood up against continued accusations and attacks from anti-Life Democrats.
These three Pro-Life women represent pregnancy resource centers that serve mothers and families through the A2A program. Democrats tried to disparage the A2A program and write it off as a poorly-run cohort of amateurs who lie to steer women away from abortion. Yet, these Pro-Life women’s testimony highlighted the truth of how they actually serve Texas women in a high-quality and professional manner.
Anti-Life Representative Donna Howard (D-Austin) was the first to attack, claiming A2A’s scope is too broad and unsuccessfully attempting to poke holes in the program’s mission.
Erin Zwiener (D-Driftwood), another abortion radical, tried to discredit the program with questions about patient confidentiality and accuracy. Both of Zwiener’s accusations were immediately debunked with the truth that the services provided by pregnancy resource centers are given in line with patient confidentiality laws.
Houston Democrat Jarvis Johnson asked whether A2A is ready to support the over 50,000 children who will now be born each year rather than aborted. In particular, he questioned whether A2A contractors were prepared to handle births of children diagnosed with fetal anomalies, and if these children would ever be adopted.
Whether intended or not, asserting that low-income babies with disabilities would be better off dead than alive is a disturbing argument that promotes eugenics.
Chelsey Youman with Human Coalition responded by emphasizing the fact that there are 1-2 million couples currently waiting to adopt newborn children throughout the United States. Sylvia Johnson with Houston Pregnancy Help Center also shared that it is a typical practice for A2A providers in Texas, including her clinic, to have an adoption education specialist on staff who counsels women every day about adoption.
Carl Sherman Sr. (D-Desoto) even made a misguided effort to attack the Pro-Life program by claiming miscarriage treatment in Texas is now illegal. Besides having nothing to do with offering resources to expecting moms and new parents, Sherman’s claim is absurdly false and driven by anti-Life media lies.
In response to this blatant lie, Sylvia Johnson rightfully pointed out that any woman not properly receiving miscarriage treatment has the right to bring a medical malpractice lawsuit against her doctor. Texas Pro-Life laws have clear exceptions for the life of the mother, allowing for miscarriage treatment. Despite Democratic and media misinformation, though tragic, the removal of a baby that has naturally passed, is not the same as an abortion, the intentional ending of a preborn child’s life.
Democrats’ attack on the Texas A2A program makes their disdain for human Life abundantly clear. If the left truly cared about “women’s choice” or “women’s reproductive healthcare,” they would not be fighting to stop the state from giving women more resources.
These attempts to defund A2A just prove that the only choice Democrats support for women is abortion. Though they refuse to admit it, the left knows that Texas laws protect and care for women and children, both before and after birth.
The Alternatives to Abortion program offers invaluable resources that must be protected and expanded to meet the increased need of Texans in our post-Roe world.
Texas Right to Life will continue prioritizing the protection and expansion of this program during the upcoming 88th Legislature.
Get updates when this important policy is being debated in the Texas Legislature by texting TXLEGE to 40237.