Sen. Campbell Files SB 855 to End All Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Providers

This week State Senator Donna Campbell filed Senate Bill 855, a key component of Governor’s Abbott’s LIFE Initiative, to prohibit taxpayer dollars at the state and local level from going to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers and affiliates.

“Losing 70,000 of our tiniest and most vulnerable Texans every year to an unnatural death is unacceptable,” Senator Campbell stated. “Knowing that taxpayer dollars can be collected and used to support the abortion industry in Texas is even more demoralizing and unjust. As a state, we must take a stand for what is right.”

In 2011, the Legislature took action to remove a large portion of state funding from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, but that decision did not impact funding at the local level. SB 855 closes the local loophole by prohibiting taxpayer dollars collected by political subdivisions in the state from being used to fund abortion facilities and affiliates.

“Texans overwhelmingly believe that the practice of abortion is morally wrong, and it is a violation of Texans’ rights to force them to subsidize the abortion industry. In defunding Planned Parenthood, we are making it clear that every innocent life is precious and Texans value life. I am proud to carry this critical piece of legislation to support Governor Abbott’s LIFE Initiative,” said Senator Campbell.

Governor Abbott’s LIFE Initiative was announced in response to the release of gruesome videos filmed at Planned Parenthood facilities in 2015, including one in Texas.

The four components include:

1) Laws must be changed to make it a felony under Texas law to perform a partial-birth abortion; and make it illegal for abortion doctors to risk a woman’s health by altering the procedure to preserve fetal body parts.

2) Improving and expanding the availability of adoption services; and increasing awareness about Texas’ already best-in-the-nation child-support enforcement program, so that young mothers considering how to deal with pregnancy know the father will be held accountable.

3) Funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers out of taxpayer money must be eliminated completely, both at the State and local levels.

4) Eliminate and criminalize any sale or transaction of fetal tissue by an abortion clinic for any purpose whatsoever.

SB 855 represents the ‘F’ component in the Governor’s proposal.