Austin Democrat backs Medicaid-paid abortions

State Rep. Sheryl Cole, an Austin Democrat serving her first term, stood with abortion advocates Thursday to urge the Legislature to act on a longshot bill that would provide state-paid abortions for Medicaid recipients.

House Bill 895 by Cole was dubbed "Rosie’s Law” in memory of Rosie Jimenez, a 27-year-old McAllen woman who died in 1977 from complications after obtaining an illegal abortion in Mexico. A federal regulation blocking Medicaid spending on abortions meant Jimenez couldn't afford the procedure in Texas, advocates said.

"Rosie should still be here, and we cannot lose any more people because they can’t afford their abortion care," said Erika Galindo, a community organizer for the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, which provides financial grants to help low-income women pay for abortions.

Speaking at a Capitol news conference with Galindo and other advocates, Cole acknowledged that her bill faces long odds in the Republican-led Legislature but said she felt compelled to "fight hard for government assistance for those that just don’t have it."

"We have to stand together as women, regardless of income, regardless of race, regardless of personal circumstances, because we are the anchors to our families. And as the anchors, we have to make sure that we are in charge of those decisions, and at the very least, we don’t die," Cole said. "That is absurd and criminal."

Rockie Gonzalez, board chairwoman for the Frontera Fund, which also provides financial assistance to low-income women seeking an abortion, said Texas should provide Medicaid patients with health-care options that are denied by federal regulations.

"It is a shameful disgrace that the poorest Texans will continue to suffer and be denied access to abortion care because of nonsense policies," Gonzalez said.

The GOP-led Legislature, however, has been far more focused on increasing regulations on abortion and abortion providers, such as a 24-hour waiting period for most patients and a mandatory pre-abortion sonogram.

Also Thursday, Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, announced that 43 Republicans have signed on as joint and co-authors to his HB 1500, which would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, typically around the seventh week of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant. Courts have blocked similar bills passed in three other states.