Abortion in Texas

By the end of the 1800s, all states in the Union except Louisiana had therapeutic exceptions in their legislative bans on abortions.[14] In the 19th century, bans by state legislatures on abortion were about protecting the life of the mother given the number of deaths caused by abortions; state governments saw themselves as looking out for the lives of their citizens.[14] In 1854, Texas passed an abortion law that made any one performing an abortion, except in the case of preserving the life of the mother, a criminal offense punishable by two to five years in prison.  The law, found in Articles 4512.1 to 4512.4, had a proviso that anyone who provided medication or other means to assist in the performing an abortion was an accomplice who could also be charged.[15]

Following the US Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973, the State of Texas decided not to repeal abortion laws that were on the books that had become unconstitutional and unenforceable.  [15] A law passed in 1992 said that only Texas licensed physicians could perform an abortion in the state.[15] A law passed in 1997 gave physicians, nurses, health care provider employees and hospital employees who objected to abortions the ability to refuse to participate either directly or indirectly in the procedure.  All private hospitals were allowed to refuse the use of their facilities to provide abortion services unless a physician determined that the pregnant woman's life was in immediate danger.[15]

Twenty-one abortion related bills were introduced in the Texas legislature in 1997. Five were eventually enacted, including TX SB 407 (1997), TX SB 1534 (1997), TX HB 1 (1997), YX HB 39 (1997), and TX HB 2856 (1997). TX SB 86 (1997) reached a floor vote but did not pass.[15] TX SB 407  allowed for the Texas Department of Health to immediately suspend the license of an abortion facility if health and safety of people using the facility was threatened. This bill was introduced by Senator Harris on February 5, 1997 and passed on February 18, 1997 by a voice vote. It then continued to the House, where it passed by a voice vote on April 18, 1997 before being signed into law by Governor Bush on May 1, 1997.[15]  TX SB 1534 dealt with funding, stating that no state funding could be used to support, either directly or indirectly, abortion or abortion related issues.  Introduced by Democratic Senator Barrientos on March 20, 1997,  the wording about abortion was only added to the legislation during negotiations between the House and the Senate, with the amended version passing both houses in mid-May 1997.[15] TX HB1 said that funds allocated for the Department of Health for family planning services could not be used by the Department of Health or any organizations it provides money to in support of abortion services, either directly or indirectly. This included a proviso that said this was organization wide, not just as it relates to specific facilities.[15] Representatives Republican McCall, Democrat Van de Putte, Democrat Gray, Democrat Greenberg and Republican Solomons introduced TX HB39 on January 28, 1997.  Originally only about genetic testing with no mention of abortion, the legislation was amended by the Senate, stating that genetic testing of a fetus could not be done on a fetus without the consent of the mother, and that the results of any subsequent genetic testing could not be used to compel or coerce a woman into getting an abortion, including having an insurance company threaten the eligibility of health care coverage.  These changes were then passed by the House and the bill was signed into law by Governor Bush on June 20, 1997.[15] TX HB 2856 put in new requirements for abortion clinics, inspection procedures of clinics and a clinic's ability to advertise.  It said the Texas Department of Health had to assign each licensed abortion clinic a unique number, clinics needed to have this number in any advertising materials, and created a 1-800 toll free number so people could call up and check the status at any time of a clinic's license.  Information on the toll free number had to be provided to women seeking abortion services by the facility offering them at the time of appointment.  This law underwent some changes before being passed by voice vote in the House on May 13, 1997 and by a vote of 31 - 0 in the Senate on May 26, 1997.  It was signed into law by Governor Bush on June 19, 1997.[15] TX SB 96 reached a floor vote but was eventually removed from consideration following a point of order on May 27, 1997.  It would have required minors seeking abortions without parental consent to have the procedure first approved by an physician not located at an abortion clinic certifying the need of the abortion because of physical, sexual or emotional harm caused by continuing the pregnancy.  It would have also required minors to wait 48 hours before being able have an abortion after her physician contacts her parents to notify the parents of approval for the procedure.[15]

Texas passed a statute requiring parental notification in the early 2000s.  This law resulted in a 21% increase in 17-year-old girls seeking abortions in the second trimester.[16][17][18] In 2003, the legislature passed a law that required all abortions after 16 weeks take place in an outpatient surgery center and required a 24-hour waiting period before women could get an abortion.  Clinics were also required to give women "Woman's Right to Know" pamphlet which included factually incorrect medical information.[19] The 79th Legislature in 2005 enacted several laws related to abortion.  One was a parental consent law.  The rest dealt with funding aspects.[19]

The 79th Legislature in 2005 enacted several laws related to abortion.  One was a parental consent law. They also passed a "late-term" abortion ban.  Other laws dealt with funding aspects of abortion and family planning, trying to prevent money for women's reproductive health going towards organizations that provided information about abortions or provided abortion services.[19]

The state was one of 23 states in 2007 to have a detailed abortion-specific informed consent requirement.[20] In the informed consent materials given to women in Idaho, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas required by statute, the materials used graphic and inflammatory language. The law also required the woman be told how far advanced her pregnancy was.[21] Some states, such as Alaska, Mississippi, West Virginia, Texas, and Kansas, have passed laws requiring abortion providers to warn patients of a link between abortion and breast cancer, and to issue other scientifically unsupported warnings.[21][22][23] The informed consent materials in South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia given to women seeking abortions include counseling materials that say women who have abortions may have suicidal thoughts or they may experience "post abortion traumatic stress syndrome." The latter syndrome is not recognized by American Psychological Association or the American Psychiatric Association.[21] Informed consent materials about fetal pain in Texas says the ability for the fetus to feel pain does not exist until 20 weeks, before later going on to conclude that it is unknown if a fetus can feel pain at 12 weeks.[21] The legislature tried to pass a "mandatory ultrasound"  bill but it failed to pass in 2007.[19]

As of March 2012, 20 states require women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound before being allowed to have the procedure. Mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds have been particularly controversial.[24] In Texas, for instance, even if previous ultrasounds had indicated severe congenital defects, a woman seeking an abortion was required under a 2012 law to have another ultrasound done, "administered by her abortion doctor, and [she had to] listen to a state-mandated description of the fetus she was about to abort", though state-issued guidelines later eliminated the ultrasound requirement if the fetus had an "irreversible medical condition".[25] In 2013, state Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law applied to medication induced abortions and private doctor offices.[26]

A fetal heartbeat bill was previously introduced in Texas by Phil King on July 18, 2013, in the wake of Rick Perry signing Texas Senate Bill 5 into law.[27] The bill was not passed.[28] Supporters of Texas Senate Bill 5, which included requirements for abortion clinics to meet ambulatory surgical center regulations and for abortion clinic doctors to have hospital admitting privileges, said the bill improved health care for women and babies. Opponents of the bill said it created unnecessary regulations for the purpose of reducing access to abortions. At the time of the bill's signing into law in 2013, five of the state's forty-two abortion clinics met the law's requirements. Courts had blocked enforcement of similar laws in some other states, pending lawsuits challenging their constitutionality.[29] A federal district judge determined this law to be unconstitutional, finding that the admitting privileges requirement placed an undue burden on a person seeking to have an abortion;[30] however, this decision was reversed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, resulting in the immediate closure of all but seven abortion clinics in the state, all of these in urban areas.[31] For patients in Texas's Rio Grande valley, the nearest clinic is now 300 miles away.[32]

Cities like Baltimore, Austin, and New York passed legislation to require Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) to disclose their status and that they did not offer abortion services, but organizations representing the CPCs have been successful in courts challenging these laws, principally on the argument that forcing the CPCs to post such language violated their First Amendment rights and constituted compelled speech.[33][34] Whereas the previous attempts at regulating CPCs in Baltimore and other cities were based on having signage that informed the patient that the CPC did not offer abortion-related services, the FACT Act instead makes the patient aware of state-sponsored services that are available rather than what the CPCs did or did not offer.[35] The law went into effect January 1, 2016.[36]

In 2017, the state was one of six where the legislature introduced a bill that would have banned abortion in almost all cases.  It did not pass.[37] Among those who believe that abortion is murder, some believe it may be appropriate to punish it with death. While attempts to criminalize abortion generally focus on the doctor, Texas state Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R) introduced a bill in 2017 and 2019 that may enable the death penalty in Texas for women who have abortions,[38] and the Ohio legislature considered a similar bill in 2018.[39] On February 7, 2019, Briscoe Cain, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, introduced a fetal heartbeat bill entitled the Texas Heartbeat Bill.[40] The bill (HB 1500) is joint authored by Representatives Phil King, Dan Flynn, Tan Parker, and Rick Miller.[41] As of February 26, 2019, HB 1500 had 57 sponsors or cosponsors of the 150 members of the Texas House of Representatives.[42] Former State Senator Wendy Davis said HB 1500 is “the most dangerous I’ve ever seen."[43] In 2019, Texas had some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.[44] In mid-May 2019, because of judicial rulings, abortion was effectively banned after week 22.[45]

On June 7, 2019, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed new abortion legislation that was set to go into effect on September 1.  This legislation said that local governments could not do business with any organization that provided abortion services, including through the offering of tax breaks or in leasing municipal owned buildings to such organizations.  The legislation also prevents local governments from  "advocacy or lobbying on behalf of the interests of an abortion provider or affiliate." [46] An exception was provided for non-abortion clinics that perform fewer than 50 abortions a year, such as doctor offices, hospitals or ambulatory services.[46]

In 1971, Norma McCorvey, then an unmarried pregnant woman who would later be known as Jane Roe, decided to challenge the Texas law that said it was a crime for doctors to perform elective abortions and that women could only have abortions if their lives at stake.[47] The US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester.[14][47][48]

On February 19, 1975 the Texas Supreme Court's ruling in the case Jacobs v. Theimer made Texas the first state in America to declare a woman could sue her doctor for a wrongful birth.[49][50][51] That case involved Dortha Jean Jacobs (later Dortha Biggs), who caught rubella while pregnant and gave birth to Lesli, who was severely disabled.[51][49] Dortha and her husband sued her doctor, saying he did not diagnose the rubella or warn them how it would affect the pregnancy.[51]

Low-Income Women of Texas v. Raiford was filed in the Texas District Court on March 10, 1993 to challenge the Texas state constitutionality of denying state funding for abortions when a physician deems the abortion medically necessary.[15]

In 2003, Norma McCorvey filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Dallas with a goal of overturning the Roe v. Wade decision of which she was a participant.[48] In September 2004, a federal appeals court rule on Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law put into place in Texas law, which would ultimately result in many abortion clinics in the state being forced to shut down.[9]

On August 29, 2014 US District Judge Lee Yeakel struck down as unconstitutional two provisions of Texas' omnibus anti-abortion bill, House Bill 2 that was to come into effect on September 1. The regulation would have closed about a dozen abortion clinics, leaving only eight places in Texas to get a legal abortion, all located in major cities. Judge Lee Yeakel ruled that the state's regulation was unconstitutional and would have placed an undue burden on women, particularly on poor and rural women living in west Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.[52]

In the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, 579 U.S. ___ (2016), the US Supreme Court in a 5-3 decision on June 27, 2016 swept away forms of state restrictions on the way abortion clinics can function. The Texas legislature enacted in 2013 restrictions on the delivery of abortions services that created an undue burden for women seeking an abortion by requiring abortion doctors to have difficult-to-obtain "admitting privileges" at a local hospital and by requiring clinics to have costly hospital-grade facilities. The Court struck down these two provisions "facially" from the law at issue—that is, the very words of the provisions were invalid, no matter how they might be applied in any practical situation. According to the Supreme Court, the task of judging whether a law puts an unconstitutional burden on a woman's right to abortion belongs with the courts, and not the legislatures.[53][54][55][44]

In August 2018, the dilation & evacuation (D & E) passed by Texas and Alabama were working their way through the federal courts appeal process.[56]

As a result of Administrative Code tit. 25, § 29,1121 from January 1997, women in Texas cannot use any state funds for abortion services unless their life is in danger or the pregnancy is a result of rape.[15] The US 1998 Department of Labor Appropriations Act Pub. L. No 105.78, Title V, §§ 509, 510 was a federal law that barred states who participated in Medicaid from refusing to use federal funds to pay abortions in cases of pregnancy as a result of rape or incest, or when continuing the pregnancy would harm a woman's health.[15]

The 79th Legislature in 2005 enacted several laws related to abortion.  Another put funding restrictions on family planning clinics as part of legislative efforts to force Planned Parenthood clinics in the state to close.  The state created a state-funded program titled Alternatives to Abortion Program.  Money for the program came from funding existing programs to support family planning.[19] Additional funding was allocated for the Alternatives to Abortion Program in 2007.[19]

The state legislature continued in its effort to deny funding to Planned Parenthood in 2009.  These efforts failed.  Another attempt to pass mandatory ultrasounds before women could get abortions also failed.[19] Efforts by lawmakers to try to get Planned Parenthood out of the state continued in 2010.  These efforts were successful in defining all Planned Parenthood clinics as abortion clinics, even if a clinic did not perform abortions and only offered family planning services.  This was intended to deny Planned Parenthood funding to clinics that didn't provide abortion services.[19] In 2010, the state had three publicly funded abortions, of which were three federally funded and none were state funded.[57]

In 2011, the state was one of six where the legislature introduced a bill that would have banned abortion in almost all cases.  It did not pass.[45] In 2011, the state legislature voted to defund family planning funding, including for Women's Health Program; these programs were replaced by state funded programs that only offered abortion alternative programs that only provided limited contraceptive supplies. That year, the state also successfully passed mandatory ultrasound screening before a woman could get an abortion.[19][58] In practice, this led to Planned Parenthood being unable to receive any Title X funding.[58]

The Alternatives to Abortion supported clinics, many of which have religious affiliations, have not always fared well, despite the state of Texas giving them hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants.[59] Heidi Clinic, run by the Heidi Group, is one such clinic.  It opened in April 2018, and staff members engaged in daily prayers while other materials around the facility encourage people to read the Christian Bible and to pray more.  It was closed in September 2018 as the clinic served only 5% of the total number of patients they had predicted they would serve. The Heidi Clinic had promised the state they could serve 69,000 people, including men and undocumented immigrants, with their reproductive health services. This was more than the local Planned Parenthood clinic served. The state had documentation going back several years showing the Heidi Group had contract violations, and misuse of taxpayer dollars that had occurred over several years when the state was pouring money into them and similar organizations.  Despite these problems, the State of Texas renewed their contract with the Heidi Group for two additional years. The state was only able to get back some of the funding it had allocated to the group for services they failed to provide.[59]

In September, 2019, the city of Austin amended its 2020 budget to include $150,000 in funds to support logistical and support services for abortion access. These services could include child care, case management, and transportation needs. The amendment passed with a 10-1 majority supporting the measure, including mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza who introduced the measure. This is the first practical support for abortion measure passed in any U.S. city.[60]

Number of abortion clinics in Texas by year.

Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state declined by 49, going from 128 in 1982 to 79 in 1992.[15] During a six-year stretch in the 1980s, Carol Everett ran a number of abortion clinics in Austin; she later shuttered these after she had a "come to Jesus" moment.[59]

The state ranked sixth  in the total number of abortion clinics lost between 1992 and 1996, dropping by 15 to 64 total clinics.[61] The rate of closures of abortion clinics in Texas is increasing as more clinics are forced to close because of increased regulatory requirements.[62][63] In a one-year period, in 2011, 85 abortion clinics closed.[59] Between 2012 and 2016 the number of abortion clinics in Texas dropped from 40 to 19[63] as a result of the state's House Bill 2, which was struck down by the US Supreme Court in June, 2016.[62] After TRAP laws came into effect in Missouri and Texas, women had to travel even greater distances to be able to visit an abortion clinic.[56]

In 2014, there were 28 abortion clinics in the state.[64] In 2014, 96% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 43% of women in the state aged 15 – 44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic.[56] As a result of TRAP legislation passed in 2014, several abortion clinics in Texas were forced to close.[65] In 2017, there were 35 Planned Parenthood clinics in a state with a population of 6,621,207 women aged 15 – 49 of which six offered abortion services.[66] Southwestern Women’s Options was one of the abortion clinics open in 2019.[67] A 2019 study found that the TRAP law increased the number of second-trimester abortions by restricting women's access to abortion services.[13]

The passage of the June 7, 2019 legislation around local governments ability to do business with abortion service providers impacted Planned Parenthood in East Austin.  This was because the East Austin had signed a 20-year lease agreement in November 2018 with Planned Parenthood, with the rent being $1 a month.  The East Austin clinic was impacted even though it provided no abortion services because its parent organization, Planned Parenthood, does offer such services.[46]

Jane’s Due Process is a Texas-based organization to assist minors in the state in going through the judicial-bypass process to secure an abortion without parental consent.[67]

Since 1995, the Abortion Access Project has organized Rosie Jimenez Day every October 3, as well as sponsored speak-outs and other events every year that month to remember her.[99]

People from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019.[102] On May 23, 2019, women went to the Texas Capitol Rotunda in Austin to express opposition to SB8.  They dressed in red, referencing The Handmaid's Tale.[103]

After befriending Operation Rescue's national director, Norma McCorvey announce in 1995 she regretted her involvement with Roe v. Wade and is now pro-life.[47][48]

Human Coalition is a Texas anti-abortion organization that operates women's reproductive health clinics that do not provide abortions and try to actively dissuade women from having them.[104]

The Marriage Vow or "The Marriage Vow - A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family" is a political pledge created by Bob Vander Plaats, a former candidate for Iowa governor, and the Iowa-based conservative group; The Family Leader, a public advocacy organization affiliated with the Iowa Family Policy Center, that he heads.[105] The 2 most notable signatures came from Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann. Rick Santorum was the first presidential candidate to contact The Family Leader after the organization publicly announced the pledge. Michele Bachmann also contacted The Family Leader to sign the pledge, and became the first Candidate to send her signed document to the organization.[106] Although Newt Gingrich did not sign the pledge, he wrote a lengthy letter in which he upheld many of the principles of the pledge including personal fidelity to his wife, respecting the marital bonds of others, enforcing the defense of marriage act, to support a federal marriage amendment, and to oppose any definition of marriage outside of "one man and one woman." [107] The pledge was also signed by former Texas governor Rick Perry.[108]

There was an arson attack in 1980 at an abortion clinic in Texas.  It caused around $320,000 USD in damage.[109] 1998 saw 6 arson attacks, 4 bombings, 1 murder and 19 acid attacks take place at abortion clinics in the United States.  The butyric acid attacks took place between May and July in Florida, Louisiana and Texas.[109]

By 2000, an act of violence had taken place at an abortion clinic in Eastland County, Texas.[109] Harris County, which includes Houston, has been home to the most abortion violence in the United States as of 2000 with 10 acts of violence being experienced by clinics.[109] A package left at a women's health clinic in Austin, Texas on April 25, 2007 that contained an explosive device capable of inflicting serious injury or death. A bomb squad detonated the device after evacuating the building. Paul Ross Evans (who had a criminal record for armed robbery and theft) was found guilty of the crime.[110]