Breaking: Pro-Life Victories Restored in Budget Conference Report

With only a few days left in the 85th Session of the Texas Legislature, the Conference Committee on Senate Bill 1 released the final version of the budget that restored two key Pro-Life provisions.  After an early decision document was published by the Conference Committee, Texas Right to Life alerted not only grassroots activists from across the state, but also Pro-Life members of the Texas House and the Texas Senate as well as Lieutenant Governor Patrick that these Pro-Life provisions had been removed.  Lieutenant Governor Patrick, Chairwoman Jane Nelson, Senator Bryan Hughes, Representative Tan Parker and other House members worked diligently to restore the two Pro-Life provisions.

The Conference Committee Report on SB1 includes the following:

  1. The SB1 Conference Committee Report includes a contingency rider to fully fund the state’s program for Alternatives to Abortion.

During floor debate in the House, Representatives Schofield and Krause increased funding for the state’s Alternatives to Abortion program, a statewide social services network of adoption agencies, maternity homes, and pregnancies centers, established in every health region of the state.  This program is currently underfunded and holds unpaid invoices from serving pregnant women and their children– both born and unborn.

The SB1 conferees moved the A2A increase to a contingency rider, authorizing HHSC to spend an additional $20 million in funding once the allocated $18.3 million is spent. This contingency allows for the current growth rate of the program, will broaden services to more women and their children, expand into underserved areas, and increase the number of qualified providers currently waitlisted to join the network of providers.

  1. The SB1 Conference Committee Report includes a rider to stop more tax dollars from the abortion industry.

Representatives Matt Rinaldi, Matt Schaefer, and Drew Springer collaborated on a budget-wide patch to plug the holes through which abortion providers and their affiliates still receive state funding.  By only limiting rules of specific programs, the state of Texas has been playing a protracted game of whack-a-mole with Planned Parenthood and affiliates.  The Texas House adopted a strong funding patch to disqualify all abortion providers and affiliates from all taxpayer dollars.

The final Conference Report for SB 1 restores the funding patch so that taxpayer dollars do not flow to the abortion mills and their affiliated clinics. This budget-wide protection marks another step in Texas Right to Life’s plan to defund Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry in Texas.

Special thanks to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for overseeing the restoration of these key Pro-Life provisions.  Chairwoman Jane Nelson, Senator Bryan Hughes, Representative Tan Parker and other House members worked diligently to restore the two Pro-Life provisions.

Please support Senate Bill 1.