Prenatal Protection Act in Texas

Texas Alliance for Life email alert | May 21, 2003

[hocndoc]

Texas Alliance for Life Legislative Alert May 21, 2003

WOMEN’S RIGHT TO KNOW ACT

Today the Texas Senate gave its final approval to the pro-life Women’s Right to Know Act, HB 15. This is a major victory as for the first time the new law will ensure that women will have more information about abortion and compassionate alternatives to abortion 24 hours before the procedure. The next step for this bill is for the Texas House to approve a minor change. After that, pro-life Governor Rick Perry is expected to sign the bill into law.

LAST CHANCE FOR PRENATAL PROTECTION ACT

The Senate failed to vote on the Prenatal Protection Act today. We have been told that the vote will be tomorrow (Thursday). This will be the last opportunity for the Texas Senate to pass this urgently needed bill this session. After that, we will likely have to wait for two years until the next regular legislative session.

Please make two phone calls before noon on Thursday:

# Call your state senator in support of the Prenatal Protection Act, SB 319. # Call Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. He must recognize the bill’s author, Sen. Ken Armbrister (D-Victoria), for a motion to consider SB 319.

SAMPLE MESSAGE: "Hello, my name is ______. I live in at ________. Please ask ______________ to SUPPORT the Prenatal Protection Act, SB 319. Thank you."

You can reach your state senator and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst through the Capitol Switchboard at 512-463-4630.

To see who your state senator is, click here http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/address.htm and type your address.

Please call; it takes only a minute. Also, please forward this message to your pro-life friends and family in Texas.

WATCH THE DEBATE

The Senate will convene at 11 a.m. The session will be available live at http://www.senate.state.tx.us/bin/live.php or on Austin cable Channel 18.

BACKGROUND

* The Prenatal Protection Act, SB 319 / HB 246, is the pro-life bill in the Texas Legislature to make it a crime to kill an unborn child in the womb against the mother’s wishes, such as in cases of assault, drunk driving, and negligence. At least 26 states make the killing of an unborn child against the mother’s wishes a crime of homicide, including California where prosecutors have charged Scott Peterson with two counts of murder for the deaths of Laci Peterson and her unborn child Conner. Yet Scott Peterson could not be prosecuted for the death of the unborn child in Texas because Texas has no such law!

* The Prenatal Protection Act extends personhood to the unborn child from conception through birth . It establishes criminal and civil penalties for a third party who kills an unborn child against the mother’s wishes, such as in cases of assault, drunk driving, and negligence. Criminals who wrongfully kill an unborn child could be charged with homicide.

* The Prenatal Protection Act has strong bipartisan support. The Senate author is Ken Armbrister (D-18, Victoria); the House author is Ray Allen (R-106, Grand Prairie). Currently 88 of 150 members of the Texas House have endorsed this bill, including 30 committee chairs and 26 vice chairs. For a list, go to http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/db2www/tlo/billhist/billhist.d2w/report?LEG=78&SESS=R&CHAMBER=H&BILLTYPE=B&BILLSUFFIX=00246

* All major pro-life, pro-family organizations in Texas support the Prenatal Protection Act.

* Abortion advocacy groups, including Planned Parenthood and the Texas Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, oppose the Prenatal Protection Act even though the Prenatal Protection Act does not change the legal status of abortion. These extremist organizations oppose this bill only because it recognizes that an unborn child is a baby who can be a victim separately from the mother.

* All of the physicians in the Texas Legislature have endorsed this bill. Also, a number of prominent physicians support this bill including the Texas Physicians Resource Council ( http://www.freemarket.org/TPRC/Main.shtml).

For more information, click on www.texasallianceforlife.org. Or contact Dr. Joe Pojman, Ph.D., Executive Director, at 512-477-1244 or joe@texasallianceforlife.org. Texas Alliance for Life (TAL) is an independent, non-sectarian, non-partisan pro-life organization based in Austin. TAL works exclusively through peaceful, legal means to protect innocent human lives from conception through natural death.

[hocndoc]

Please, even if you have called before, call your Texas State Senator and Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst tomorrow morning.

Even with the protection for doctors that the Texas Medical Association demanded and won, this is a good bill because it will take the unborn child from being what one woman called a "no thing" in the State of Texas to being an individual whose life can't be taken (against his mother's will).

This bill will provide help in enforcing domestic violence laws as well as protect the child in question. If he or she is killed, there will be legal recourse for the mother, father and family. Currently, the only legal charge in Texas is for assault on the mother or "loss of a body part." The killer of Laci Peterson could only be charged with a single crime in Texas.

[LiteKeeper]

SITREP

[hocndoc]

Thanks for the bump, but I don't understand the reference.

[DrewsDad]

My Senator(Barrientos a.k.a. veryintox) is a lost cause, but I will call Dewhurst.

[LiteKeeper]

I teach several classes to high school and college kids on comparativebworldviews (biblical vs secular). As I read the various threads, some impress me as good for illustrations. So, I mark "incidents" as "SPOTREPS" (spot report) and "descriptions of the current world scene" as "SITREPs" (situation reports). When I get home, I download these SPOTREPs and SITREPs to a database for future use.

Does that help?

[hocndoc]

Yes, thank you.

Since murder is the most common cause of deaths of pregnant women and domestic violence is likely to be the cause of more pregnancy complications than any other causes, the Prenatal Protection Act is (unfortunately)very relevant to your students.

[hocndoc]

Thank you. I'm afraid Wentworth is a "lost cause," too.

He voted against HB 15, the Woman's Right to Know Act.

[hocndoc]

Here's more information:


http://www.now.org/issues/violence/043003pregnant.html

""Murder: The Leading Cause of Death for Pregnant Women

April 23, 2003

By Kim Curtis, Associated Press Writer
See also:
A Week of Deadly Violence by Intimate Partners (April 21-27, 2003)

SAN FRANCISCO—The death of Laci Peterson, as well as the unsolved murder of another pregnant woman whose torso washed up in San Francisco Bay, points to a disturbing phenomenon well known to police, health advocates and experts on battered women: the leading cause of death for pregnant women is homicide. ""

""Homicide was found to be the leading cause of death for pregnant women in Maryland, according to a March 2001 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Using death records and coroner reports, state health department researchers found 247 pregnancy-associated deaths between 1993 and 1998. Among those deaths, 50 were murders. By comparison, homicide was the fifth-leading cause of death among Maryland women. And, nationwide, the maternal mortality rate was just 9.9 percent in 1999, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Nationally, homicide is a leading killer of young women—pregnant or not. In 1999, homicide was the second-leading cause of death among women ages 20 to 24. It was fifth among women ages 25-34. Accidents are the top cause of death in both age groups.

The Maryland study reinforced at least two earlier studies that found homicide to be the top killer of pregnant women. In Cook County, Ill., 26 percent of the 95 deaths of pregnant women recorded between 1986 and 1989 were slain. In New York, 25 percent of the 293 deaths among pregnant women between 1987 and 1991 were homicides. ""

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/Primetime/pregnant_murder030425.html

"" These cases seem to support studies from recent years that have found that homicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women outside of medical complications.

According to a 2001 study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, approximately 20 percent of Maryland women who died during pregnancy were murdered. This supported the findings of previous studies in Cook County, Ill., and New York.

Experts and women's advocates are not surprised to find that pregnant women are especially prone to violent deaths. In many cases, pregnant women are killed by their husbands or significant others. ""

http://wc.studentaffairs.duke.edu/vdaystats.html
"" * Pregnant or recently pregnant women are more likely to be the victims of homicide than to die of any other cause. (Journal of the American Medical Association, March 2001)""


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030306/80/dutgy.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/drh/violence/slides/sld001.htm#2

[hocndoc]

At least Barrientos is honest about being a Democrat. My Senator promised to vote along the lines of his Republicn Constituency, and instead, he voted with the Democrats. Here's another email from the Texas Alliance for Life on how the vote went yesterday on the Woman's Right to Know Act.


"""Huge Pro-Life Victory in Texas Senate; Important Vote on Prenatal Protection Act Today

Yesterday, the Texas Senate, on a bipartisan 21-10 vote, gave preliminary approval to the Women’s Right to Life Act, HB 15. Many consider this to be a landmark pro-life victory. This bill will require abortion providers to give a woman -- 24 hours before an abortion -- access to state-published information about the medical risks of abortion to herself, the development of the unborn child, and a list of public and private local agencies that provide compassionate alternatives to abortion.

The vote was as follows:

* Yeas:
* Armbrister, Averitt, Bivins, Brimer, Carona, Deuell, Duncan, Estes, Fraser, Harris, Jackson, Janek, Lucio, Madla, Nelson, Ogden, Ratliff, Shapiro, Staples, Williams, Zaffirini. Nays: Barrientos, Ellis, Gallegos, Hinojosa, Lindsay, Shapleigh, Van de Putte, Wentworth, West, Whitmire.

The Senate is expected to give its final approval today, and pro-life Governor Rick Perry is expected to sign the bill into law. Tremendous credit goes to the bill’s authors, Rep. Frank Corte (R-San Antonio) and Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands), to the Senate and House leaders, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick, and to the many pro-life groups and individuals who supported this bill.

URGENT: Texas Senate to Consider Prenatal Protection Act Today!

The Senate vote on the Prenatal Protection Act has been delayed until today. Senate rules require a two-thirds majority to bring the bill up for deliberation.

Please immediately call your State Senator in support of the Prenatal Protection Act, SB 319!

The Prenatal Protection Act is the pro-life bill in the Texas Legislature to make it a crime to kill an unborn child in the womb against the mother’s wishes, such as in cases of assault, drunk driving, and negligence. At least 26 states make the killing of an unborn child against the mother’s wishes a crime of homicide, including California where prosecutors have charged Scott Peterson with two counts of murder for the deaths of Laci Peterson and her unborn child Conner. Yet Scott Peterson could not be prosecuted for the death of the unborn child in Texas because Texas has no such law!

Powerful opponents, including Planned Parenthood and other abortion advocates, strenuously oppose this bill.

We need your help to pass this bill in Texas! Join people from across Texas and flood the Capitol with calls. Please immediately call and ask your state senator to support the Prenatal Protection Act!

[hocndoc]

I just called the Senator's office again.

His office said that they could not tell me how he will vote.

The young woman disagreed when I said that it appeared that the Senator voted with the Democrats. But, tell me what you think.

[DrewsDad]

I worked so hard to get rid of Barrientos. But Bentzin lost in this district even with a superior campaign, the [un]American [mis]Statesman endorsement, and Barrientos' DUI. Maybe he'll retire soon. Hopefully, we can get a good primary candidate to oust Wentworth[less] next time.

[DrewsDad]

Wentworth[less] actually showed up in the House committee to testify against the Parental Notification Bill the previous session. He's a lost cause too. Work to educate others about his record and get him out.

[hocndoc]

I told their office that we were discussing Wentworth's voting record on FreeRepublic, and that I intended to write a letter to the editor for each of the papers in District 25.

Wentworth snuck by last time in the Republican primary, and had no real Democratic opposition in the state wide election. But, watching his voting record, I don't see much reason for the Democrats to oppose him.

[hocndoc]

The Senate is in session.

Let's show the Texas Senate the power of Free Republic and, if possible, our support for human rights and against the murder of humans, whatever their stage of development.

See post one for the numbers to call.

[hocndoc]

an apologetic self-bump

[hocndoc]

The Bill passed the Senate!
Thank you to everyone who called.

[DrewsDad]

The Bill passed the Senate!

AWESOME!!! After so many years of Wolens and Laney killing everything in the State Affairs Committee.

[hocndoc]

The bill passed on a voice vote. I was surprised how quickly the gavel came down.

Now, the only way I have to judge Wentworth is by his vote yesterday and by what his staff told me on the phone this morning.