Op-Ed: Planned Parenthood Celebrates as Texas Pro-Life Group Opposes Bill to End Abortion

When Planned Parenthood starts celebrating the work of a “pro-life” group, that group should start asking whether they are actually “pro-life,” rather than supporting the work of death.

That is exactly what happened last week in Texas, one of the most conservative states in the country, when a leading pro-life organization shockingly opposed a bill to abolish abortion.

Members of a Texas House committee were scheduled Tuesday to consider House Bill 2197, authored by Texas State Rep. Brent Money, to establish equal protection for preborn babies.

The premise of the bill, like similar ones across the country, is very simple: Preborn babies are equally valuable relative to people who have already been born, meaning that they should be equally protected under the laws that already safeguard other people from murder and assault.

Thank you, @brentmoney, for championing the abolition of abortion in Texas!

During his campaign, Brent Money promised to file a bill of equal protection. And since arriving in Austin, he not only fulfilled that promise by introducing the bill, but has also fought tirelessly to… pic.twitter.com/yxgaxR9reK

— Abolish Abortion Texas (@AATXNow) April 23, 2025

Passing such a bill would abolish abortion, ensuring that anyone who willfully murders a preborn person would face the exact same penalty under the law as if they had murdered a born person.

While many may assume that abortion has ended in Texas, that is sadly far from true.

An analysis from the Foundation to Abolish Abortion conservatively estimated that there are 60,000 abortions each year committed by Texans, including more than 25,000 on Texas soil.

“There are still tens of thousands of babies being murdered right here in Texas, completely legally, via the abortion pill,” Money warned residents of Texas in an article about House Bill 2197. “Tens of thousands more travel out of state to procure abortions every year.”

One would think that leading pro-life groups would be supportive of efforts trying to address this massive issue. But instead of supporting House Bill 2197, the leaders of Texas Alliance for Life, arguably the largest and most influential pro-life group in Texas, urged their followers to submit testimony against the legislation and contact their lawmakers to urge them to oppose the bill.

Legislative Alert: Oppose HB 2197, a bill to criminalize abortion for women—including the death penalty. It would deter women from seeking help & make it harder to stop illegal abortion providers.
Urge your state rep to oppose it TODAY: https://t.co/1ndEyxOqQA #TxLege

— TexasAllianceforLife (@TXAlliance4Life) April 21, 2025

Texas Alliance for Life announced that they opposed House Bill 2197 because the measure would “criminalize abortion for women.” That is because House Bill 2197 would close loopholes in Texas law granting mothers blanket immunity for willfully murdering their preborn children.

Supporters of the bill observed that such loopholes have contributed to the 25,000 abortions in Texas, most of which rely on abortion pills that the mother willfully orders and takes herself.

Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, fearmongered alongside the progressive media by describing House Bill 2197 as the “death penalty for women bill.”

#HB2197, the “death penalty for women” bill is a terrible idea. Please contact and urge your state representative to oppose it. #txlegehttps://t.co/UMCrHyAS0Q

— Joe Pojman, Ph.D. (@joepojman) April 21, 2025

But as previously mentioned, the bill merely ensures that preborn babies receive equal protection under the law. No section of the bill prescribes a certain penalty for having an abortion. No section specifically singles out pregnant women for prosecution, either.

The bill merely says that existing homicide and assault laws should protect both preborn people and born people, because both are equally valuable and equally made in the image of God.

As with every other case of criminal law, judges and juries from that point can sort between victims and perpetrators, and they would be able to apply the appropriate level of punishment.

There will be some cases in which a woman is found to be the victim of an abuser or male partner who forces her to have an abortion. There will be others in which a woman is found to be a willful participant in an abortion. In such cases, she should face penalties, along with any other party to that murder, such as an abortion pill provider or a boyfriend who pays for the abortion.

Beyond countering House Bill 2197 to their supporters, Texas Alliance for Life staff members called Texas State Rep. John Smithee, the chair of the committee where the bill was scheduled to be heard, and moved him to pull the bill from the hearing. The lawmaker also said he faced pressure from Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows to pull the bill from the schedule. Pojman later called the coauthors of House Bill 2197 and tried to persuade them to stop sponsoring the bill.

Texas Alliance for Life was not the only group to celebrate when House Bill 2197 was abruptly removed from the schedule on the eve of the hearing. Planned Parenthood lauded the decision to pull House Bill 2197 and even tried to take credit for the decision made by Smithee.

That reality should provoke some serious introspection at Texas Alliance for Life, and some serious alarm among Texas conservatives and Christians who may be supporting that group.

When the largest abortion provider in the nation, which murders hundreds of thousands of preborn babies every single year, is supporting the work of an organization that claims to be “pro-life,” perhaps the supposed “pro-life” bona fides of that organization should be questioned.

Texas Alliance for Life indeed has an extensive record of opposing equal protection bills. They also have a record of opposing even pro-life regulations that fall far short of abolishing abortion.

They arguably spend more time fighting anti-abortion bills than passing anti-abortion bills.

.@AbbyJohnson calls out @JoePojman and @TXAlliance4Life for using pro-abortion talking points against HB 2197, which would provide equal protection to every preborn child in Texas. pic.twitter.com/4yopQ7jnRA

— Abolish Abortion Texas (@AATXNow) April 25, 2025

Money made that point when discussing the most recent efforts from Texas Alliance for Life and leading Republicans to ensure the blood of preborn babies will continue to be shed in Texas.

“The main takeaway of this story cannot be overstated: legislation to protect the unborn from the moment of conception was killed by Republicans and pro-life organizations,” Money wrote.

That pattern has been repeated not only in Texas, but throughout much of the country.

Only two months ago, lawmakers in North Dakota, another overwhelmingly conservative state, voted against a similar equal protection measure known as House Bill 1373. That move came one year after state and national pro-life organizations asked the North Dakota Republican Party in a public letter to refrain from passing an equal protection resolution for their platform.

Why did Republican lawmakers in North Dakota vote to keep abortion legal in their state last week?

Here is everything you need to know.

Christians across the nation watched last week as Republican state lawmakers voted against a simple bill to protect the lives of preborn… pic.twitter.com/ZdzN7ZGlwD

— Foundation to Abolish Abortion (@AbolitionistFAA) February 17, 2025

Planned Parenthood also fought against the proposal in North Dakota, joining the likes of North Dakota Family Alliance and the North Dakota Catholic Conference in opposing House Bill 1373.

These pro-life establishment groups presumably tell their voters and supporters that they are working toward the end of abortion. If that is the case, then why are those groups opposing efforts that would accomplish that goal, even in conservative states controlled by Republicans?

When the likes of Planned Parenthood align with these organizations, the time has come to raise the alarm about their subversive behaviors. We must abolish abortion in all 50 states, even if many “pro-life” groups choose to stand in the way of equal protection for preborn babies.

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either d or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.

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