Editor’s note. The following is excerpted from an email sent out by Texas Right to Life, National Right to Life’s state affiliate
Dear Friend of Life,
Jim Graham, Texas RTL Executive Director
Texas Right to Life worked for five years to pass the sonogram bill that guarantees that women can see their unborn child before an abortion.
We succeeded and passed HB 15, a crowning achievement for Life — one of the strongest Pro-Life bills in the nation.
Now the Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York-based abortion think-tank, filed a lawsuit to stop Texans from implementing HB 15.
Although the landmark legislation passed overwhelmingly during the latest legislative session, today we are now in the courts fighting the lawsuit so that every woman will have the right to see her unborn child in her womb and listen to the heartbeat of her baby before she makes a momentous decision that will change both of their lives forever.
No other state has been able to achieve such a stout, life-saving law.
By standing firm during the legislative session — even after being told, “Texas Right to Life pushes too hard!” and “You’re too hard to work with!” — your grassroots activism prompted legislators to keep the sonogram bill alive.
THE RESULT: The abortion lobby is running scared and has predictably resorted to the courts, hoping for raw judicial activism to thwart the will of the citizens of Texas.
We will not run scared!
The abortion lobby is so worried about the new Texas law that they are taking unprecedented action by recruiting every Texas abortion provider to join their class action suit, thus confirming that our new sonogram law, House Bill 15, is one of the strongest in the nation.
Our Pro-Life attorneys wrote a brief on behalf of the members of the State House to submit to the court in defense of the new law, refuting the abortion industry’s claim about the vagueness of the law.
Over 60 State Representatives signed Texas Right to Life’s legal brief to clarify the intent of the legislation to the court that says: We want to protect the right of Texas women to see the sonogram of their unborn child before an abortion! What is so vague about that?
That brief was filed today in the federal district court for the western district based in Austin.
There has only been one brief court hearing, and we were there to represent you and the lives of the unborn. But more court challenges are coming.
Be assured that Texas Right to Life and our attorneys will attend and participate in every step to ensure that Texas women have the right to see the sonogram of their unborn child before finalizing an abortion decision.
Help us fight the way you would if you were here.
Yours for Life,
Jim Graham, Executive Director, Texas Right to Life