At a signing ceremony moments ago, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed the pro-life sonogram bill, HB 15, into law. Liberty Institute helped lead the charge to pass the bill, which requires health professionals to show the sonogram image of the growing baby to pregnant women seeking an abortion.
Liberty Institute attended the ceremony and released the following remarks:
“We applaud Gov. Perry and the Texas Legislature for making this life-saving bill a priority, said Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of Liberty Institute. “The sonogram bill – the most significant pro-life bill in Texas in over ten years – ensures that Texas’ outdated informed consent laws now accommodate technological advances and renewed concern for women’s health and well-being. The new law will save countless lives and guarantee women receive the most complete information possible before making such an important decision.”
“This strong pro-life legislation empowers women like never before and makes sure they will not be denied critical and important information before making such a serious decision,” said Jonathan Saenz, director of legislative affairs and attorney for Liberty Institute. “We thank Governor Perry, Representative Sid Miller, Senator Dan Patrick, and the numerous dedicated leaders in the Texas House and Senate that have made this legislation possible.”
View Liberty Institute’s full Press Release.
The Governor also released a statement:
Gov. Rick Perry today ceremonially signed House Bill 15, which requires a woman to have a sonogram before electing to have an abortion to ensure she is fully informed before making such an impactful decision. The governor designated the measure an emergency item for the 2011 Legislative Session. He was joined by Sen. Dan Patrick and Rep. Sid Miller at the signing ceremony.
“Every life lost to abortion is a tragedy we all must work together to prevent, and I commend Rep. Miller and Sen. Patrick for their hard work on this significant legislation,” Gov. Perry said. “This important bill will ensure that every Texas woman seeking an abortion has all the facts about the life she is carrying, and understands the devastating impact of such a life-changing decision.”
View the full statement: http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/16168/
Video of Governor Rick Perry signing the Sonogram Bill:
The Governor also released a statement with comments from numerous Pro-Life Groups that supported this legislation, including Liberty Institute, Concerned Women for America, Texas Alliance for Life, The Heidi Group, Texas Physicians Resource Council, Texans for Life Coalition, Justice Foundation, Operation Outcry-Silent No More, Christian Life Commission, Care Net, and Republican National Coalition for Life.
View the full statement: http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/16169/
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Texas Legislative Update: A Liberty Institute Blog 
This bill is intrusive and mean-spirited. Republicans complain incessantly about keeping “big government” out of our business…except for all those times big government can be hijacked to further their own ideological agenda. This new law is tea party hypocrisy at its worst.
A woman’s right to access critical information is basic. Sorry to hear you want woman to be lead through an abortion clinic and procedure blind-folded. This is the 21st century, women deserve better. And if abortion clinics won’t protect women, Texas will.
“Mr.” Potts wants what the pro-aborts have always wanted. More money from dead babies, in spite of the euphemisms and the dem talking points. Oh yes, and votes from poor, uneducated, deluded women.
As a female who has never had or needed an abortion, I protest strongly govenrment intervention in a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her body.
It never ceases to amaze me that so much legislation that purports to benefit women is originated and sponsored by men … the ones who get women pregnant in the first place. This is not a protective measure but rather a thinly-veiled furtherance of ideological beliefs.
The decision of a woman to abort her unborn child in her womb is intact. Roe v. Wade has not been overturned. Planned Parenthood is still alive and well and wating for women to walk through their door so that can end the life of an unborn child and pocket the money.
Women who want to see a sonogram should not be denied that right by private companies that want to hide information from women. Women at one point were denied the right to vote, until the government stepped in a defended their right. Here, the government is stepping in to protect women who have been denied medical information in the past.
Rep. Geanie Morrison also filed a similar Sonogram bill, and there were numerous women legislators who were co-sponsors of this bill. Your are argument is without support.