Today, Texas Values Action was excited to witness Governor Greg Abbott’s signing ceremony of HB 3994, the Judicial Bypass reform law carried by Rep. Geanie Morrison and Sen. Charles Perry. The law protects pregnant minors and parents from the broken judicial bypass system that allows minors to seek permission from a judge to undergo secret abortions without any parental involvement.

Texas Values Action staff with Gov. Abbott after the signing.

Current Texas Law requires both parental consent and notice before an elective abortion, but pregnant minors may get permission from a judge to undergo the abortion without any parental involvement. The abortion industry and activist pro-abortion lawyers have been abusing this judicial bypass process, and HB 3994 closes these harmful loopholes and better protects pregnant minors.

The Judicial Bypass law will also help close the loopholes by limiting “forum-shopping” by abortion attorneys, changing the court venue requirements, ending the practice of automatically granting the bypass when the judge does not rule on the petition, and requiring judges and abortionists to report abuse immediately.

Gov. Abbott officially signed the law on June 12^th and it will go into effect January 6, 2016. HB 3994 was a priority pro-life bill supported by Texas Values Action in the recently completed Texas Legislative Session.