Texas lawmakers are considering a bill that would charge women who get an abortion in the state with homicide, a crime punishable by death.
The bill, authored by state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, a Republican from Arlington, would instruct the attorney general to charge both women and the performing physician with homicide for having gone through with the procedure.
“Right now, it’s real easy. Right now, they don’t make it important to be personally responsible because they know that they have a backup of ‘oh, I can just go get an abortion,’” Tinderholt told The Observer in 2017 when he filed similar legislation. “Now, we both know that consenting adults don’t always think smartly sometimes. But consenting adults need to also consider the repercussions of the sexual relationship that they’re gonna have, which is a child.”
Some of his fellow Texas representatives see the irony in his action of sentencing those to death that he feels took a life.
“How essentially one is okay with subjecting a woman to the death penalty for the exact… to do to her the exact same thing that one is alleging that she is doing to a child,” said state Rep. Victoria Neave (D-Dallas) to Fox 4 after a lengthy debate on the legislation.
State Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Plano), who is the chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence, has said that the bill will not make it out of committee and will not become law in the state.
"My commitment to advancing the pro-life cause is stronger than ever and that's why I cannot in good conscience support House Bill 896…" Leach said to Fox 7 in a statement. "Trusted pro-life legislators and advocates agree with that this bill moves our state and the pro-life cause in the wrong direction and it will not be advanced from the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence."
But even with the roadblocks from those in his party, Tinderholt believes that his idea is the correct interpretation under the law.
“I think it’s important to remember that if a drunk driver kills a pregnant woman, they get charged twice. If you murder a pregnant woman, you get charged twice. So I’m not specifically criminalizing women,” Tinderholt said to Fox 4. “What I’m doing is equalizing the law.”
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