Discussion on legislation that would apply the same penalties for abortion in Texas as homicide was removed from the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee calendar for Tuesday, likely ending any chance of the proposal passing this session.
Rep. Brent Money, a Greenville Republican, is the bill's sponsor. On Tuesday, his office told The Texas Newsroom he was surprised by the move and believed the measure, House Bill 2197, was a top priority for Republicans.
In recent sessions, Texas GOP lawmakers have successfully passed strict prohibitions around abortion, giving Texas some one of the country's strongest bans around the procedure. It is currently only allowed when a "major bodily function" or a mother's life is at risk — exemptions Texas lawmakers are seeking to clarify this year.
But HB 2197 saw recent pushback from even the state's strongest supporters of abortion restrictions. Texas Alliance for Life — which describes itself as a "pro-life organization whose goals are to protect innocent human life from conception through natural death" — is one of them.
On Monday, the group's X account posted a "legislative alert" advising followers to "oppose HB 2197, a bill to criminalize abortion for women— including the death penalty."
Ahead of Tuesday's scheduled committee hearing on the bill, Texas Alliance for Life called on individuals to submit written testimony urging lawmakers to reject the bill, which it said would "deter women from seeking help & make it harder to stop illegal abortion providers."
The Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee took the proposal off its agenda later that day.
Rep. Money is scrutinizing the move to pull the bill from discussion, which would have had to be done by the committee's chair.
In the Texas Legislature, committee chairs are in charge of what legislation is brought before each panel of lawmakers, the first stop on any legislation's path to becoming law. That means, in theory, House Criminal Jurisprudence committee chair Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo) would have had the final say on the bill being removed.
But Rep. Money's office told The Texas Newsroom that he had heard otherwise.
"John Smithee, who's a Republican, told him that it was the Speaker's office — which is Republican Speaker Dustin Burrows," said Wesley Baisley, Money's press secretary.
But when Money called to figure out why the Speaker pulled the bill, Baisley said he was told, "it was the Chairman's decision."
Both Rep. Smithee and Speaker Burrows have not responded to The Texas Newsroom's request for comment.
With about six weeks left in the session, Money is one of several House lawmakers who've expressed frustration over how the Texas House is running this year.
The Texas Newsroom is a public radio journalism collaboration that includes NPR, KERA in North Texas, Houston Public Media, KUT in Austin, Texas Public Radio in San Antonio and other stations across the state.