Texas Gov. Greg Abbott asked lawmakers to pass a bill to ban mail-order abortion drugs Thursday when he called another special session of the legislature.
KVUE reports the Texas legislature will begin its second special session this summer at noon Saturday. Abbott called it after a group of state House Democrats left the state in protest of several bills, preventing a quorum and effectively blocking Texas from passing any more legislation.
“The Texas Legislature achieved a great deal during the 87th Legislative Session, and they have a responsibility to finish the work that was started,” Abbott said in a statement. “I will continue to call special session after special session to reform our broken bail system, uphold election integrity, and pass other important items that Texans demand and deserve. Passing these Special Session agenda items will chart a course towards a stronger and brighter future for the Lone Star State.”
The Dallas Morning News reports House Democrats continue to thwart action in the state legislature by remaining in Washington, D.C., and it is not clear if any will return Saturday for the new special session.
Among the governor’s 17 priorities for the session is legislation to protect women and unborn babies from dangerous abortion drugs.
In his statement Thursday, Abbott called for legislation that “prohibits people from providing abortion-inducing drugs by mail or delivery service, strengthens the laws applicable to the reporting of abortions and abortion complications, and ensures that no abortion-inducing drugs are provided unless there is voluntary and informed consent.”
The state Senate passed such a bill, Senate Bill 4, sponsored by state Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, during the first special session. However, the state House was unable to act on it.
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Texas and other states are seeing an increase in the use of life-destroying abortion drugs, sometimes referred to as chemical, or medical, abortions.
According to Texas Right to Life:
The number of elective abortions in Texas fell by approximately 36,000 from 1990 until 2017. Then the number of abortions rose in 2018 and again in 2019. …
In 2017, chemical abortions represented 32% of all abortions, but that figure rose to 34.7% in 2018 and skyrocketed to 39.4% in 2019. This corresponds directly with the increase in total abortions. Further, in 2016, the FDA also eased regulations that define when the abortion industry may administer mifepristone and misoprostol, the chemical abortion drugs.
The numbers may grow even more after President Joe Biden’s administration stopped enforcing another safety regulation on the abortion drugs earlier this year and began allowing them to be sold through the mail without the woman ever seeing a doctor in person.
Several other states also passed laws this year to address the growing problem. These includes laws to inform women of the life-saving abortion pill reversal treatment in Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia, and regulations on abortion drugs that protect mothers and unborn babies in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and Montana.
Abortion drugs are dangerous for the mother as well as her unborn baby. In the United States, the abortion drug mifepristone has been linked to at least 24 women’s deaths and 4,000 serious complications. Risks include excessive bleeding, severe abdominal pain, infection and hemorrhage.
A 2009 study “Immediate Complications After Medical Compared With Surgical Termination of Pregnancy,” in Obstetrics and Gynecology found a complication rate of approximately 20 percent for the abortion drugs compared to 5.6 percent for surgical abortions. Hemorrhages and incomplete abortions were among the most common complications.
Texas lawmakers passed several other pro-life laws this year, including legislation to prohibit abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable. However, the abortion industry is suing to block the law.
ACTION ALERT: Contact Texas state lawmakers and urge strong support for the pro-life bill.
