Several Texas Republicans indicated there may be support for exemptions to the state’s restrictive abortion law, which currently prohibits abortions even in cases of rape and incest, with the exception to save the life of the mother.
Longtime state Sen. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville said he would support revising the law to add an exception for rape, and Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan acknowledged that members of his caucus have expressed that they want to revisit the law’s exemptions during the Texas Tribune’s TribFest.
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“If I get a chance to vote for an exception to rape, I will vote yes,” Nichols said on a panel with Republican lawmakers. “I think instead of us telling women what to do, we should show our support for women of this state.”
Nichols, who identifies as “pro-life,” voted in favor of the state’s abortion laws, including the heartbeat law that took effect last September banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat could be detected, which is typically around six weeks of pregnancy. He did not say if he would support exceptions in cases of incest.
Phelan told Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith in a separate event that the issue may be addressed when the legislature convenes in January, as some House members have been concerned there are no exceptions for rape or incest, but Phelan noted that he supported the law as it stands.
Meanwhile, some Texas GOP lawmakers pushed back on the notion that the law should be revisited.
“East Texas is strongly conservative and strongly pro-life. They know every life is sacred. They know life begins at conception. They want us to fight to protect every life,” tweeted state Rep. Bryan Slaton. “Any lawmaker who thinks we should weaken our pro-life laws is drinking Austin swamp water.”
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Republican strategist Karl Rove predicted Saturday that the Texas abortion ban will “create a real problem for Republicans in the legislature next year when they have to deal with it,” agreeing that he thought the law was too restrictive. A poll conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin in June ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision found that only 11% of Texans said women should never be able to obtain an abortion in cases of incest and 13% in cases of rape.
Whether or not Texas lawmakers revisit adding exemptions next year could also be contingent on the results of the midterm elections and how well Republicans fare on the issue nationally.
