Texas Republicans reveal they could revisit exceptions to abortion law

Abigail Adcox

September 26, 04:49 PM September 26, 04:49 PM

Several Texas Republicans indicated there could be help for exemptions to the state's restrictive abortion legislation, which at present prohibits abortions even in instances of rape and incest, with the exception to conserve the existence of the mother.

Longtime state Sen. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville claimed he would help revising the regulation to insert an exception for rape, and Texas Property Speaker Dade Phelan acknowledged that users of his caucus have expressed that they want to revisit the law's exemptions throughout the Texas Tribune's TribFest.

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"If I get a possibility to vote for an exception to rape, I will vote of course,” Nichols claimed on a panel with Republican lawmakers. "I assume alternatively of us telling women what to do, we ought to demonstrate our assistance for females of this point out.”

Nichols, who identifies as "pro-everyday living," voted in favor of the state's abortion regulations, including the heartbeat legislation that took impact last September banning abortions soon after a fetal heartbeat could be detected, which is generally all over six weeks of being pregnant. He did not say if he would assist exceptions in circumstances of incest.

Phelan instructed Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith in a separate celebration that the situation may well be addressed when the legislature convenes in January, as some Dwelling users have been concerned there are no exceptions for rape or incest, but Phelan observed that he supported the legislation as it stands.

Meanwhile, some Texas GOP lawmakers pushed back on the notion that the law must be revisited.

"East Texas is strongly conservative and strongly professional-lifestyle. They know each existence is sacred. They know life begins at conception. They want us to struggle to shield every daily life," tweeted condition Rep. Bryan Slaton. "Any lawmaker who thinks we ought to weaken our pro-daily life guidelines is consuming Austin swamp h2o."

Republican strategist Karl Rove predicted Saturday that the Texas abortion ban will "generate a true dilemma for Republicans in the legislature following calendar year when they have to deal with it," agreeing that he believed the regulation was much too restrictive. A poll done by the Texas Politics Undertaking at the College of Texas at Austin in June forward of the Supreme Court's final decision found that only 11% of Texans explained ladies should really by no means be capable to acquire an abortion in instances of incest and 13% in scenarios of rape.

Whether or not or not Texas lawmakers revisit introducing exemptions upcoming 12 months could also be contingent on the success of the midterm elections and how properly Republicans fare on the challenge nationally.