On Wednesday, Texas Right to Life released the Pro-Life Scorecard for 2017, showing how each legislator performed during the regular and special sessions of the 85th Texas Legislature. Texas Right to Life sorted through hundreds of record votes on Pro-Life issues to calculate and determine scores and rankings.
However, the majority of the negotiations, debates, and work that determines if a bill passes or dies is done behind closed doors, safely out of the view of the grassroots and voters. Therefore, Texas Right to Life is also releasing a 2017 Pro-Life Heroes list and a 2017 Disappointments list in conjunction with our scorecards to tell the whole story of who really helped and who hindered life-saving measures during the regular and special session.
The Pro-Life Heroes list highlights the elected officials who actively worked for and assisted priority Pro-Life legislation through to passage. The top three places on the list are reserved for the most influential officials for the Pro-Life movement in 2017:
1-Governor Greg Abbott completely redeemed a frustrating regular session of the 85th Texas Legislature by calling a special session to address multiple policies, including four specific Pro-Life issues.
2-Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, ushered and passed Pro-Life legislation quickly through the State Senate and even passed bills a second time, picking up the slack from House Leadership.
3-The Freedom Caucus of the Texas House secured and negotiated every single Pro-Life victory in the House by outmaneuvering House leadership and forcing the moderate Republicans to move critical legislation and amendments.
Many of the members who authored and passed Pro-Life legislation also made the 2017 Pro-Life Heroes list.
Please thank these officials and legislators below for championing the Pro-Life cause and the Pro-Life priorities of Texas Right to Life.
2017 Pro-Life Heroes
- Greg Abbott
- Dan Patrick
- Freedom Caucus
- Charles Perry
- Larry Taylor
- Greg Bonnen
- Matt Schaefer
- Matt Rinaldi
- Stephanie Klick
- John Smithee
- Matt Krause
- Jonathan Stickland
- Bryan Hughes
- Brandon Creighton
- Mike Schofield
- Tom Oliverson
- Charles Schwertner
Texas Right to Life’s 2017 Disappointments list will be released tomorrow to shine light on those who set obstacles in the way of life-saving legislation during the sessions of the 85th Texas Legislature.