Texas Republican Party Approves Platform Calling for Abortion Ban Protecting Unborn Babies

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   May 16, 2016   |   1:01PM   |   Austin, TX

Texas Republicans took a strong stance against abortion during a party convention on Friday in Dallas, calling for the end of Roe v. Wade and restored protections for unborn babies beginning at conception.

The Republican Party of Texas has approved platforms in the past that oppose abortion, but the Dallas News reports the 2016 platform “goes further than ever in calling for an end to abortion.”

The platform encourages legislators to “enact legislation stopping the murder of unborn children.” It also urges the legislature to “ignore and refuse to enforce any and all federal” regulations and court rulings that would “deprive an unborn child of the right to life.” In addition, the platform supports completely eliminating taxpayer funding from the abortion giant Planned Parenthood.

The move signals Texans’ willingness to fight for unborn babies despite heavy criticism and court challenges to its current abortion laws. Texas currently is waiting to hear whether the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold state legislation that has saved tens of thousands of babies’ lives by closing abortion clinics that are unable or unwilling to protect women’s health. A ruling is expected in June.

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Texas Right to Life praised the Republican Party of Texas for making pro-life measures a priority. The pro-life group said in an email to LifeNews.com:

The Party has taken a hard line on Pro-Life issues for 2016, including adopting language favoring a Dismemberment Abortion Ban – a bill passed by five other states and a measure Texas Right to Life considers a Legislative Priority for the upcoming legislative session. Pro-Life delegates to the convention showed considerable support for the measure by voting for this specific plank in a convention general session Friday evening.  90% of the voting delegates voted to add the Dismemberment Abortion Ban plank in the Party’s 2016 Platform.  Convention attendees also showed their support by signing a petition for the Texas Legislature to pursue codification of a law protecting the preborn in the next Texas Legislative Session.

… In addition to strongly backing the Dismemberment Abortion Ban, the committee favored language expressing the Party’s determination to “abolish” abortion, and rejected an attack on crucial patient protection language.  The Party reaffirmed opposition to the draconian Texas Advance Directives Act, a 1999 statute allowing doctors and hospitals to remove Texans from life-sustaining treatments against their will or that of a surrogate.  Instead, the Party’s official stance commits to preserving patient autonomy and the Right to Life.

Texans are using the hashtag #DismemberRoe to support the pro-life measures.

“These victories affirm the power of grassroots conservatives rejecting compromise and exceptions on crucial Life issues,” Texas RTL said in the email. “Texas Right to Life commends the Republican Party of Texas for hearing and heeding the voices of constituents, delegates, and convention attendees, and for boldly and swiftly holding non-compromising Pro-Life language.”

Texas pro-life lawmakers have been targets for attack by pro-abortion advocates, especially after it enacted a series of regulations to protect women’s health and welfare by requiring abortion clinics to meet the kinds of medical and safety standards that legitimate medical centers meet. A number of abortion clinics in Texas closed as a result because they could not or would not comply with the regulations

The legislation, House Bill 2 (HB2), requires abortion facilities to meet the same safety standards of other Ambulatory Surgical Centers in the state, ensures that abortionists have admitting privileges at a local hospital, and bans painful late abortions on fully formed babies. The admitting privileges portion of the law was the portion responsible for closing abortion clinics and, because so many shut down or stopped doing abortions, Judge Lee Yeakel claimed that constituted an undue burden on women.

The coalition of abortion companies, who brought this lawsuit, argues that the effect of the law will be to close many abortion clinics, thus creating an “undue burden” on the right of women to have an abortion.

The U.S. Supreme Court case is Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The law has been credited with saving the lives of more than 10,000 unborn children.

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