Committee Chairman Cancels Hearing on Texas Abolition Bill at Behest of Pro-Life Establishment

2025 Legislation
Written By Editor

On Tuesday, April 22, members of the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee were scheduled to hear House Bill 2197, which would abolish abortion in the state of Texas.

But the hearing on House Bill 2197 was cancelled just hours before it was supposed to start. Supporters of the bill soon learned that a leading Pro-Life establishment group had pressured the chair of the committee to pull the legislation.

Historic Level of Support for Abolition in Texas

House Bill 2197, filed by Texas Rep. Brent Money (R), would simply establish equal protection of the laws for preborn people, protecting their lives with the same assault and homicide laws that already protect born people.

A long list of Texas conservative grassroots organizations and activists had endorsed the bill in a coalition letter, including the chair and vice chair of the Republican Party of Texas.

House Bill 2197 was initially co-authored by 21 state lawmakers, marking a historic level of support for equal protection in the Texas House. Rep. Tom Oliverson, the chairman of the House Republican Caucus, co-authored the bill.

Money warned his colleagues and the public that there are still over 25,000 babies legally murdered every year on Texas soil, primarily because existing Pro-Life laws forbid any penalties for women who willfully have abortions. This means legal abortion has not ended in the state.

Amid the support for House Bill 2197, Texas Rep. John Smithee (R), who chairs the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, scheduled the legislation for an April 22 hearing.

Pro-Life Lobby Group Publicly Attacks Abolition Bill

After the Texas House gave public notice for the hearing on House Bill 2197, Texas Alliance for Life called on their supporters to oppose the legislation by submitting written testimony and contacting their state lawmakers. The leading establishment Pro-Life group complained that the bill would “criminalize abortion for women,” while claiming the bill would also “deter women from seeking help” and “make it harder to stop illegal abortion providers.”

Joe Pojman, the executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, and Amy O’Donnell, the communications director of Texas Alliance for Life, also publicly condemned House Bill 2197. Pojman called it the “death penalty for women bill,” while O’Donnell asserted that holding women who willfully have abortions accountable “undermines the heart of the pro-life cause.”

In the hours after Texas Alliance for Life made their opposition known, Smithee abruptly pulled the bill from the hearing schedule without providing an explanation to the public. It became clear later that he received pressure from Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R). Smithee also told one anti-abortion activist that Texas Alliance for Life had called him and asked that he withdraw House Bill 2197 from the scheduled hearing. Pojman later called co-authors of House Bill 2197 off the Texas House floor to ask them to withdraw their names from the proposal.

That move shocked the many Christians who drove across Texas and flew in from around the country to support the bill. There were also 325 public comments from Texans submitted on House Bill 2197, all but 24 of which were in support of the bill, showing a groundswell of support for abolishing abortion and passing equal protection. There were 13 other bills scheduled for a hearing alongside House Bill 2197, but none of them received more than 10 public comments.

Planned Parenthood was among the first groups to celebrate Texas Republicans and the Pro-Life establishment making sure that House Bill 2197 would not receive a hearing.

Money said in statements after House Bill 2197 was pulled that “leadership betrayed the voters of Texas” and shirked their “duties as elected officials” by refusing to hear the only bill that would “close the remaining loophole in Texas law that keeps abortion legal via the abortion pill.”

Bradley Pierce, president of the Foundation to Abolish Abortion and Abolish Abortion Texas, issued a statement making clear that “the anti-abolition Pro-Life establishment and Planned Parenthood Republicans are the reasons why abortion remains legal in Texas.”

Grassroots Texas conservative leaders and legislators expressed outrage over the cancellation of the hearing on House Bill 2197. Texas conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan wrote that “the baby-killers are celebrating” the bill being pulled, while conservative political consultant Luke Macias called the decision to pull House Bill 2197 “a major unforced error” by leadership.

Rep. Daniel Alders (R) wrote that House Bill 2197 “focuses on protecting the lives of the unborn,” adding that he was “thrilled this bill was scheduled to be heard tomorrow in committee, and disappointed it was pulled from the list at the last minute.”

Supporters of HB 2197 at the state Capitol in Austin.

Supporters of HB 2197 at the state Capitol in Austin on Tuesday, April 22.

Christians Rally for Equal Protection

Despite the fact that House Bill 2197 was denied a hearing on Tuesday, many of the Christians who planned on testifying in support of House Bill 2197 gathered in the Capitol Rotunda to sing hymns and to pray that abortion would finally be abolished in Texas.

Pierce meanwhile recorded video of the testimonies from some of the Texans who had arrived to share stories of grief, repentance, and forgiveness regarding the issue of abortion, stories which the Pro-Life establishment and Texas Republicans had attempted to silence.

Christians in the state of Texas vowed to hold accountable those responsible for pulling House Bill 2197, and to continue fighting for the tens of thousands of preborn babies still murdered under Texas law each year.

Editor
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