Texas lawmakers began this session’s abortion fights in earnest Wednesday during the first committee hearing on three abortion bills.

The Senate Committee of Health and Human Services met for several hours on Wednesday to discuss and hear public testimony on bills that would require the burial of fetal remains.

Legislation would also require abortion providers to file fetal death certificates after the procedure. The committee also heard testimony a bill outlawing what opponents call “dismemberment abortions” — second-trimester procedures that require surgical instruments to grasp and remove pieces of fetal tissue.

The committee did not vote on any bills.

Read our live-blog below to get a recap of what happened Wednesday.

 

// (function (window, document) { var clock = typeof window.performance === ‘object’ ? window.performance : Date; function debounce (func, wait, immediate) { var timeout, args, context, timestamp, result; var later = function () { var last = clock.now() – timestamp; if (last = 0) { timeout = setTimeout(later, wait – last); } else { timeout = null; if (!immediate) { result = func.apply(context, args); if (!timeout) context = args = null; } } }; return function () { context = this; args = arguments; timestamp = clock.now(); var callNow = immediate && !timeout; if (!timeout) timeout = setTimeout(later, wait); if (callNow) { result = func.apply(context, args); context = args = null; } return result; }; } var streamElement = document.getElementById(‘stream-container’); var iframeElement = document.createElement(‘iframe’); var setElementHeight = function () { var streamElementWidth = streamElement.getBoundingClientRect().width; var streamElementHeight = streamElementWidth * 0.5625; // 16×9 iframeElement.setAttribute(‘height’, streamElementHeight + ‘px’); }; iframeElement.setAttribute(‘frameborder’, ‘0’); iframeElement.setAttribute(‘scrolling’, ‘no’); iframeElement.setAttribute(‘width’, ‘100%’); iframeElement.setAttribute(‘src’, ‘https://tlcsenate.granicus.com/mediaplayer.php?camera_id=12&embed=1&autoplay=0’); var debouncedSetElementHeight = debounce(setElementHeight, 100); window.addEventListener(‘resize’, debouncedSetElementHeight, false); window.addEventListener(‘orientationchange’, debouncedSetElementHeight, false); setElementHeight(); streamElement.appendChild(iframeElement);})(window, document);

Bobby Blanchard joined The Texas Tribune’s audience team in 2016 and led the team from 2021 to 2023, strategizing to expand the organization’s reach and engagement across all platforms. A graduate...