Despite the talk of cooperation and unity in the Texas Legislature, and the Republican majority allegedly 'moderated' by Democrat victories in November, the Texas Republican Party is stressing that one key goal of the GOP since taking control of the Legislature in 2003 is unchanged, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"We would like to see the elimination of abortion in Texas," Party Chair James Dickey says.
Over the past decade, a flurry of measures have been approved by majority Republicans, from onerous restrictions on abortion providers, stripping organizations like Planned Parenthood of access to state funding, waiting periods, a law that women who plan to undergo abortions first view a sonogram of the fetus and listen to the heartbeat, even bills mandating the way aborted fetuses must be disposed of.
Some have been upheld, but most have been shot down in the federal courts. But the result has been that the number of operating abortion providers in Texas has been cut by two thirds.
Dickey says Republican lawmakers will not stop fighting abortion.
"Over the last several years there has been a lot of great progress in protecting the most innocent, the most precious, the most at-risk life, and hopefully that will continue," he said.
It looks like it will continue in the 2019 session. Several bills to further restrict abortion have already been introduced, including a constitutional amendment which would 'prohibit abortion to the extent allowed under federal law.'
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