Anti-Choice Groups Get More Extreme

A growing chorus of ardent anti-abortion activists spent a sizable amount of time complaining to state lawmakers that the anti-choice House Bill 35, which would force women to bury or cremate their fetus after an abortion or miscarriage, doesn't go far enough. On March 8, the Texas House State Affairs Commit­tee met to hear testimony on the bill, authored by Com­mit­tee Chair Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana. In addition to the dependable show of pro-choice and anti-choice testifiers, the hearing was filled with members of Abolish Abortion Texas, a group that advocates its followers "Ignore Roe." Quoting Bible passages, many of the "abolitionists" urged legislators to go beyond the bill at hand and support HB 948, which would make abortion tantamount to murder. Cook was forced to continually remind them to "stay on message" – that being HB 35.

Cook insisted his bill has "nothing to do with abortion procedures whatsoever" and everything to do with "ensuring the dignity of the deceased." Despite his words, abortion providers assert the bill will indeed greatly and negatively affect the procedure by adding substantial cost, logistical barriers, and stigma to abortion care.

HB 35 is the bill version of the same rules the Depart­ment of State Health Services passed in Nov­ember. However, Sam Sparks, a Republican-appointed federal judge, blocked the measure in January, slamming it as a likely "pretext" to restrict abortion and an "undue burden" on women. The bill was left pending in committee.