On Thursday, the Texas House of Representatives passed the pro-life “Heartbeat Bill” to ban abortion after a baby’s heart starts beating.
According to Life News:
During the first vote Wednesday on second reading, the House approved the bill on an 81-63 vote. Today’s vote for final passage was 83-64 and State Rep. Ryan Guillen from Rio Grande City [was] the only Democrat to join Republicans voting for the bill.
During debate on the bill one of the lead sponsors shared her own personal story. Rep. Shelby Slawson (R-Stephenville) said doctors told her mother she had medical problems and advised her to get an abortion.
“The complications and those dire prognosis continued, the back-and-forth to the doctor continued, and that heartbeat continued,” Slawson said. “And then one Tuesday in May, that new mom greeted her newborn. This surprisingly normal baby, marveling at 10 fingers and 10 toes and wisps of red hair.”
Texas Right to Life celebrated the bill advancing one step closer to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
“It’s not only a law for actual enforcement, but think about how our laws can actually affect the culture and the conversation that we have about the unborn child,” Kimberlyn Schwartz, the director of media and communication, said.
HB 1515, the Texas Heartbeat Act, would prohibit abortions after a baby’s heartbeat is detectable. The vote for the heartbeat abortion ban comes after the Texas Senate approved similar legislation. The heartbeat bill, state Senate Bill 8, passed on third reading in March.
The pro-life bill is expected to clear the Texas Senate easily and be signed into law by pro-life Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
I pray this passes everywhere.
Hooray for Texas. It makes me proud to be citizen of this great State.
This is a great victory for morality in the great State of Texas. It is reasonable and logical and should be the law everywhere. A heartbeat is a clear sign of a baby; a mere collection of developing cells doesn’t have a beating heart.