Pro-Life Texas Governor Greg Abbott Wins Primary, Will Take on Pro-Abortion Beto O’Rourke

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 2, 2022   |   10:02AM   |   Washington, DC

Texas Governor Greg Abbott won the Republican primary for governor last night, setting the pro-life governor up to face abortion activist Beto O’Rourke.

Abbott and former congressman and failed Senate candidate fended off potential runoffs ahead of the November general election, winning their primaries. With 86% of polling locations reporting to the Texas Secretary of State’s office, Abbott had 66.67% of votes — besting multiple challengers. O’Rourke had 91.18% of votes with 86% of the state’s polling locations reporting and facing merely token opposition.

“Texans face a very profound question this election,” Abbott said Tuesday night. “Do we take a left turn that leads to more government and less freedom? Or do we maintain the course that has secured greater freedom, more jobs and safer communities.”

The Democrat plans to use abortion as an issue to attack Abbott, but polling consistently shows a majority of Texas residents are pro-life and support the bill to ban aboritons when an unborn baby’s heartbeat can be detected. Governor Abbott signed the heartbeat bill into law.

“As he (Abbott) caters to the most extreme fringe element of his party’s primary electorate, he’s doing things like banning abortion and putting a $10,000 bounty on the backs of anyone who assists any woman in making her own decisions about her own body,” O’Rourke said.

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This week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton provided an update on the Texas abortion ban today, and he confirmed the heartbeat law has saved 17,000 babies from abortions.

Paxton on Monday said the state’s ban on abortions after n unborn babies heartbeat can be detected at 6 weeks has saved “17,000 newborn lives” in the six months since the law went into effect. He said the pro-life law is responsible for a 60% decline in abortions.

“Simply by having SB8 enacted, thousands of lives have already been saved in Texas. Stopping abortion providers from conducting these barbaric practices is yet another win for our great state. I will continue to fight tirelessly for the rights of the unborn,” Paxton said in a statement LifeNews obtained.

“Abortions fell by 60 percent in Texas the first month after SB8 took effect. Abortion providers asked both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to expedite their attack on the law by sending the case to a lower court, but they refused to do so,” Paxton added. “Most recently, on February 24, the Texas Supreme Court heard argument from attorneys for the Office of the Attorney General regarding whether any state governmental entity is authorized to enforce SB8.”

Texas SB8 is a pro-life law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, when fetal cardiac activity can be detected. Also known as the “Heartbeat Bill,” the law protects the unborn from gruesome medical procedures that involve dismemberment in the mother’s womb.

Abbott was the featured speaker at the recent Texas Rally for Life in front of the Texas capitol in January, celebrating a new Texas law that bans abortions.

The governor said he was delighted to sign the abortion ban into law.

“There’s no freedom more precious than life itself,” Abbott told the enthusiastic crowd of several thousand pro-life advocates. “I promised to protect the life of a child with a heartbeat, and we did,” Abbott said. “I am proud to join you in this fight to protect the sanctity of life, and we did.”

Although abortion advocates falsely claim pro-life people don’t care about women and children after birth, Abbott noted how the state didn’t just ban abortions. It also approved a new fund to provide support for women and children.

“I am proud that Texas is stepping up and providing $100 million for alternatives to abortion programs to support expecting mothers in need,” he said.