Texas Legislative Guide

The end of the 2013 legislative session was marked by a divisive debate over abortion regulations that garnered national attention when then-Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth filibustered a measure that bans abortion in Texas after 20 weeks, requires doctors who perform the procedure to obtain admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, and requires facilities that perform abortions to meet the same hospital-like standards as ambulatory surgical centers. The bill was signed into law later that summer, enacting some of the strictest abortion regulations in the country. Challenges against the abortion law have made their way through the legal system since the law was passed and could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. With abortion regulations in other states also in the courts, opponents of abortion sought to further restrict the procedure.  

But those efforts — including a bill to prohibit health insurers from covering abortions and another that would have made it a crime to coerce women into having abortions — were unsuccessful.

Updated: May 29, 2015