Leading anti-abortion group drops support of Texas lawmaker after he pledges to support exceptions for rape

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A number one statewide anti-abortion group suspended its endorsement of state Sen. Robert Nichols this week after the Republican chief from Jacksonville mentioned he’d assist a loosening of Texas’ abortion ban.

Nichols, who’s up for reelection in November, mentioned Friday in the course of the 2022 Texas Tribune Pageant that he’d vote in favor of an exception to Texas’ abortion prohibition in circumstances of rape.

In a Twitter thread on Monday, the Texas Proper To Life group mentioned it was “deeply upset” by the East Texas senator’s feedback and that it will not assist any politician who “selectively chooses which kids ought to have the Proper to Life.”

“How politicians view exceptions reveals whether or not they have a constant moral principal motivating their pro-life views, or if its sort of a floor worth,” Texas Proper to Life President John Seago mentioned in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “The feedback we heard from Sen. Nichols exhibits there’s a distinction between us and him.”

Seago added that after Nichols made his feedback on Friday, he spoke with the senator to grasp his views on abortion.

“We had that dialog, and it’s evident that we’re nonetheless not unified on how we tackle these points,” Seago mentioned.

Nichols didn’t make clear over the weekend whether or not he’d assist different adjustments to the abortion legal guidelines, resembling an exception for the process in circumstances of incest. And he declined to remark for this story.

Texas’ near-total abortion ban went into impact after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom overturned the constitutional proper to abortion this summer time. The state’s abortion ban is without doubt one of the most stringent within the nation, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The process is prohibited in nearly all circumstances, besides to avoid wasting the lifetime of a pregnant individual, and performing an unlawful abortion is a felony punishable by as much as life in jail.

Nichols is without doubt one of the longest-serving Republican state senators, and he represents part of Texas that has traditionally led the combat towards abortion. Nichols has a powerful anti-abortion report, and he has stored the assist of Texas Proper to Life since he first gained the Senate seat in 2006.

Final 12 months, Nichols voted in favor of the Human Life Safety Act — the laws that triggered a rollback of abortion entry after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom determination — which was signed into legislation by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Texas Proper to Life payments itself because the oldest and largest “pro-life” group in Texas. Its views, nonetheless, usually are not in keeping with different anti-abortion organizations.

Texas Alliance for Life, an anti-abortion group based mostly in Austin, has not wavered in its assist for Nichols since his feedback this weekend.

“We valued his assist for the Human Life Safety Act when it handed within the final legislative session with out the rape and incest exception,” mentioned Amy O’Donnell, the group’s spokesperson. She mentioned that whereas Texas Alliance for Life doesn’t favor any weakening of the abortion legal guidelines, the group’s assist for Nichols “has not modified.”

Angelina County Republican Celebration Chair Bob Flournoy shared the same sentiment, calling himself a longtime supporter of Nichols. Whereas Flournoy disagrees with the senator about abortion — Flournoy mentioned he doesn’t assist an exception for rape — he’ll nonetheless assist Nichols within the upcoming election.

“Whether or not I agree with him or not, I feel he deserves our full assist,” mentioned Flournoy, an legal professional in Lufkin.

Seago, of Texas Proper to Life, mentioned it was “mind-boggling” to listen to that different teams that invoice themselves as pro-life would proceed to assist Nichols.

“It reveals a basic misunderstanding of what it means to be pro-life,” mentioned Seago. “To say that you just’re going to punish the kid for a sin of the daddy — that misses the purpose. That’s pro-life 101.”