TEXAS REPUBLICAN PARTY APPROVES PLATFORM LANGUAGE CALLING FOR ABOLITION OF ABORTION
BY HEATHER CLARK
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
DALLAS, Texas — The Republican party of Texas has approved language for its platform expressing support for the total abolition of abortion.
“We call upon the Texas legislature to enact legislation stopping the murder of unborn children; and to ignore and refuse to enforce any and all federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, and court rulings, which would deprive an unborn child of the right to life,” it reads.
The text was approved last week during the Texas GOP’s bi-annual convention at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas. The complete platform was voted upon by delegates on Friday, and the results were announced on Saturday. There were over 20 planks, or issues, that were put forward for consideration as statements to represent the position of the party and its delegates.
Various abortion abolitionists spoke before the Temporary Platform Committee of the Republican Party of Texas in urging the approval of the language, which was later accepted as a legislative priority.
“All innocent human life must be respected and safeguarded from fertilization to natural death; therefore, the unborn, the aged, and the physically or mentally challenged have a fundamental individual right to life, which cannot be infringed,” the abortion plank reads. “We are resolute in our support of the reversal of Roe v. Wade.”
As a remedy, it urges the party and the Texas legislature “to assist in educating the public regarding alternatives to abortion, especially adoption.”
The platform also expresses support for the complete defunding of Planned Parenthood in the state, the elimination of lawsuits over “wrongful birth,” the prohibition of the manufacturing and sale of abortifacients, and the end of liability and malpractice insurance coverage for abortionists.
In addition to abortion, the GOP approved other pro-life measures, such as calling for the reformation of existing law that allows for the overriding of a patient’s desire to continue to receive medical care.
“We also support the passage of legislation to amend the Advance Directive Act by requiring hospitals intending or threatening to withdraw life-sustaining treatment against the patient’s wishes or their advance directive to continue all treatment and care for such patients pending transfer to another facility,” the platform reads.
As previously reported, concerns over the law had been highlighted last year after the family of Christopher Dunn, 46, was informed by officials at Houston Methodist Hospital that its bioethics committee believed that life-sustaining treatment should be discontinued. Dunn’s mother fought the decision, and hired an attorney to help intervene. Dunn later died from what was believed to be cancer, but his mother vowed to continue fighting to have the law altered.
The Texas Advance Directives Act (TADA) of 1999 states that “[i]f the patient or the person responsible for the health care decisions of the patient is requesting life-sustaining treatment that the attending physician has decided and the review process has affirmed is inappropriate treatment,” the patient will be kept alive for 10 days, and on the 11th day, doctors are permitted to discontinue treatment, unless the patient is transferred to another doctor or facility.
