The 89th Texas Legislature achieved several important Pro-Life victories. Nevertheless, two Republican lawmakers stood out in undermining efforts to protect preborn children and their mothers. Pro-Life Texans are disappointed in Representative Ken King and Senator Robert Nichols.
The most urgent threat this session was the influx of illegal abortion pills, which exceed 19,000 every year in Texas. The Woman and Child Protection Act (WCPA) was designed to confront this crisis. It empowers Texans and state agencies to stop pill traffickers and save women and babies from dangerous chemical abortions.
Unfortunately, not all lawmakers saw this bill as a priority. The WCPA should have passed during the regular session and taken effect September 1, 2025. Instead, because of obstruction in the House, the effective date was pushed to December 4. During that three-month delay, an estimated 4,750 orders of abortion pills entered Texas.
Representative Ken King
No lawmaker bears more responsibility for this failure than State Representative Ken King (R-Canadian). As chairman of the House Committee on State Affairs, Representative Ken King held enormous power over the Legislature’s most important Pro-Life bill. He held a hearing on the Woman and Child Protection Act (House Bill 5510; 89R) on April 25, and received its Senate version (Senate Bill 2880; 89R) on May 2 after Senator Bryan Hughes and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick fought to pass the legislation. However, King refused to advance the bill for nearly a month. He finally allowed a committee vote on May 23, but subsequently failed to send the bill to the Committee on Calendars, where it could be scheduled for a vote. Even if he had sent the bill along, he delayed the Pro-Life legislation for so long that it would not receive a House floor vote before the end of the regular session.
By declining to hold a vote on the bill for weeks and by refusing to move it forward, Representative King ensured that it could not reach the House floor, killing the most critical Pro-Life Priority.
Had he acted quickly, the state could have implemented the strongest protections against illegal abortion pill trafficking three months earlier. Instead, thousands of dangerous pills entered Texas without the enforcement tools desperately needed to shield pregnant women and save preborn lives. King’s obstruction was the single most damaging setback for Pro-Life efforts in the entire Legislature this year.
Senator Robert Nichols
Senator Robert Nichols also disappointed Pro-Life Texans. Throughout the regular and special sessions, he refused to support the Woman and Child Protection Act. For every floor vote on this bill, including procedural votes, he registered as “present, not voting.”
This is not the first time that Senator Nichols has opposed Pro-Life legislation. In 2023, he voted against Senate Bill 1195, which would have given the attorney general authority to prosecute abortion crimes. He also stated during a 2022 interview panel that he would “vote for an exception” if given the chance which would have removed legal protections from some preborn children because of the crimes of their fathers. Taken together, these actions show a consistent unwillingness to back uncompromising and effective measures that confront new threats to Life.
Nichols may have felt more comfortable revealing his true views knowing he would never have to face Pro-Life voters again since he decided not to seek re-election in 2026. Though they were disappointing, Senator Nichols’ actions did not prevent the bill from advancing, unlike Representative King’s actions in the House. The Senate passed the measure in each session despite his disappointing abstentions.
Texans deserve lawmakers who not only campaign on a Pro-Life platform, but actually vote to defend mothers and preborn children. Review the official Pro-Life Scorecard to see who fulfilled that responsibility and who failed when it mattered most.
