AUSTIN, Texas, February 14, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Last week, Texas State Representative Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, introduced the Texas Heartbeat Bill (HB 1500), which if enacted would prevent unborn babies with detectable heartbeats from being aborted.
“The heartbeat is a universally recognized indicator of life,” said Cain. “The Texas Heartbeat Bill recognizes that this universal indicator should also apply to our most innocent and vulnerable Texans. A society is judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable members. I believe the most defenseless members of our society are innocent unborn children.”
“When you have a heartbeat, you have a life, and we should honor that life at all cost,” said Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, one of the bill’s co-authors.
The bill has more than 40 co-authors, Cain announced today.
The bill allows abortions in cases of “medical emergency,” but does not allow babies to be aborted because they were conceived in rape.
Congressional failures to defund Planned Parenthood or pass major pro-life legislation during the first part of President Trump’s term when the U.S. House and U.S. Senate were controlled by Republicans have been met with a stream of bold state legislation, including numerous heartbeat bills. The governor of Iowa signed a heartbeat bill into law last year, but a judge prevented it from taking effect.
Ohio passed a heartbeat bill last year, but former Gov. John Kasich vetoed it. Legislators failed to override Kasich’s veto by one vote. This week, the bill was reintroduced. Gov. Mike DeWine, who replaced Kasich, has indicated he would sign it.
“I look forward to the day when every life is respected and treated with infinite value,” Rep. Cain told LifeSiteNews via email. “The Texas Heartbeat Bill takes a giant leap towards reaching that goal. Millions of lives will be saved by this important legislation. With your prayers and support, we can make a significant impact on protecting innocent life and creating a culture of life in our nation.”
Under the Texas Heartbeat Bill, doctors who abort babies with heartbeats would be subject to criminal penalties. A woman on whom an illegal abortion is performed would be able to file a lawsuit for civil action for wrongful death of the unborn baby and recover at least $10,000 in damages.
Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said that his organization is “very proud” of Cain for introducing the bill that should halt “nearly all but the earliest abortions in Texas.”
Cain is Operation Rescue’s Texas attorney.
Newman said that he is confident that the Texas bill can withstand court challenges posed by pro-abortion forces. “With so many states seeking to pass similar bills, we may be seeing the first wave of a movement that will soon rid our great nation of the barbaric practice of abortion once and for all.”
“Just as a heart is the universal sign of Valentine’s Day, a beating heart is the universal sign of life,” Cain commented today. “Eleven other states have filed heartbeat bills this year, making 2019 the year of the Heartbeat Bill. I am humbled to see the growing wave of support this and other heartbeat bills are receiving across the country.”