With the 85th Texas Legislature set to convene in Austin on Jan. 10, we’re already seeing proposed bills that would make it even harder for women to access abortion and other reproductive health care services in the state. Politicians in Texas and elsewhere simply refuse to trust women to make decisions about whether and when to have children. In fact, check out what the Republican president of the Kentucky Senate, Robert Stivers, has to say:
“This is my belief: there are two viable beings involved. One had a choice early on to make a decision to conceive or not. Once conception starts, another life is involved, and the legislature has the ability to determine how that life proceeds.”
In other words, women have the choice to get pregnant. After that, women’s bodies belong to the state.
Stivers was defending efforts to pass legislation anti-abortion extremists are pushing in his state this year. We are tracking seven anti-abortion bills that Texas legislators have already pre-filed for the coming session here, and we expect more. You can find our list of bills on our Legislative Watch page here.
