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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (center) signed a bill today that prevents taxpayers from having to pay for abortions through their insurance plans.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 18, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas legislature took state taxpayers out of the abortion business with a new law restricting state funds to only pay for abortions to save the life of the mother.  

Here are 12 facts to know about the new Texas law:

1. The law does not restrict anyone from getting their own abortion insurance.

Any woman may purchase insurance. The only restriction is regarding taxpayers funding abortion.

“What we’re saying here is: If you want to buy this coverage, you can buy it,” Republican Rep. John Smithee said during the House debate. “This isn’t about who can get an abortion. It is about who is forced to pay for an abortion.”

2. The Texas law does not put the life of any mother in jeopardy.

The law applies to “elective” abortions and specifically includes an exemption for any abortion necessary to save the mother’s life.

No emergency procedure is prohibited under the new law. Any woman whose life may be threatened by carrying to term may abort.

“Texas must take steps to prohibit taxpayer and premium dollars from subsidizing abortions that are not medically necessary,” Republican Sen. Brandon Creighton said.

3. The new statute does not force women to give birth to handicapped babies.

Abortion is legal in the state for any reason, including fetal handicaps.  

The new law only means the state recognizes that some taxpaying citizens believe a baby in the womb is a human being whether handicapped or not, and therefore object to their money going to kill them.

4. The statute does not “deny access” to abortion for anyone.

Abortion is still fully legal in Texas. No one is denied access to the procedure. As The Daily Wire aptly put it, the law only deals with public funds to “cleanse the blood money.”

The liberal mantra criticizing pro-life laws as “denying access” to abortion is fake news.  Pro-life laws do no such thing. The Daily Caller cynically explained, “Abortion enthusiasts prefer to phrase it, you’re being ‘denied access.’ Y’know, like expecting people to go to CVS to buy their own birth control is ‘denying access.’ Expecting people to deal with the consequences of their own choices is ‘denying access.’”  

5. Though they decry the new law, some abortion supporters say the law will not change a thing.

The Guttmacher Institute’s Elizabeth Nash said the bill was unnecessary because “most women pay out of pocket already.”

Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas medical director Sealy Massingill noted that insurance companies already only cover “medically necessary” abortions, so the law “serves no purpose whatsoever.”

6. The law is one of the strongest pro-life measures in the nation.

For decades, even pro-lifers caved when it came to “the hard cases” of rape, incest, and fetal deformity or handicaps. But in recent years, with the bold public testimonies of people who were conceived by rape such as Rebecca Kiessling, Pam Stenzel, and Monica Kelsey, killing the child because of the crime of the father is being exposed as a compromise of the sanctity of innocent human life.

7. Pro-life laws in Texas are bringing down the abortion rate.

At least in part because of pro-life laws, abortions have gone dramatically down in Texas, from more than 82,000 reported in 2006 to just over 54,000 in 2015.

Many previous pro-life laws in Texas were overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 as having the effect of limiting abortion “access,” even though the laws were about women’s safety.  

Requirements for hospital admission privileges and basic surgical facility provisions were struck down by judges on the nation’s highest court.

8. Pro-aborts are gearing up to challenge the new law in the courts.

Even though the measure only affects how tax dollars are used, Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses say it is unconstitutional and denies access to a legal procedure.

“This legislation is part of an agenda to shame, bully, and punish people seeking abortion,” Amanda Williams of the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity claimed.

9. Texas is not the only state withholding taxpayer dollars from the abortion industry.

Ten states have laws keeping taxpayers out of the abortion insurance business. Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Oklahoma restrict tax funds from paying for abortion insurance in all cases except a mother’s life. Indiana and Utah have similar laws but include rape and incest exemptions.  

All allow any individual to purchase abortion insurance separately.  

10. Pro-life leaders are unanimous in their approval of the new statute.

“We applaud Governor Abbott and the work of Texas Right to Life for enacting legislation echoing the sentiment that the killing of unborn children is NOT healthcare,” National Right to Life Committee state legislative director Ingrid Duran told LifeSiteNews. “Mothers and their babies deserve better than abortion.”

“The Texas Legislature and Governor have gone the extra mile to make sure its citizens aren’t being forced to fund the killing of unborn babies through healthcare,” Life Issues Institute president Brad Mattes told LifeSiteNews.  

Texas Right to Life director Elizabeth Graham testified before the state legislature that abortion is not healthcare. “The definition of healthcare is to make a person well and to encourage health,” Graham explained. “The definition of a successful abortion is the complete death of the unborn child.”

11. The new law exposes the greatest divide in America today.

Abortion has bitterly divided Americans since its legalization in 1973. The killing of children in the womb is no less divisive today.  

“It’s ironic that as Texas moved to protect its citizens from funding abortion through insurance, Oregon’s governor forced its residents to fully fund abortion with no co-pay,” Mattes added. “It makes a world of difference who you vote for in an election.”

The Declaration of Independence, which has held the United States together for more than 200 years, clearly states that the right to life is fundamental to all human beings.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life … ”

12. Planned Parenthood could be next.

Defunding Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, could happen soon on the federal level.

Talk show host Chris Salcedo said, “Tax money should now be denied to the USA’s #1 abortion mill, The Butcher Shop, Planned Parenthood (PPFA).”