Texas lawmaker moves to criminalize abortion so women will be more 'personally responsible'

Texas lawmaker Tony Tinderholdt defended the proposal of his controversial House Bill 948, the "Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act," which was introduced earlier this month and could legalize the criminalization of abortion in the state of Texas, even those immediately after fertilization.

The State Representative from Arlington, Texas, believes that completely abolishing abortion procedures would "force" women to be "more personally responsible," he told the Texas Observer.

"Right now, it's real easy. Right now, they don't make it important to be personally responsible because they know that they have a backup of 'oh, I can just go get an abortion,'" Tinderholt said. "Now, we both know that consenting adults don't always think smartly sometimes. But consenting adults need to also consider the repercussions of the sexual relationship that they're gonna have, which is a child."

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If passed in Texas, abortions at any stage would be criminalized under House Bill 948, with pregnancies that are often exempt to anti-abortion policy -- specifically in cases of rape, incest or fetal abnormalities -- also being made illegal.

"... For the Legislature to insert themselves in these decisions... it's just baffling to me that he could have that lack of compassion and understanding for fellow Texans," Donna Howard, State Representative, D-Austin told the Texas Observer.

"That is so ignorant to think... that women are somehow irresponsibly deciding that they're going to go ahead and get pregnant because it's so easy to get an abortion," Howard said.

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Tinderholt has also reported that he has received death threats since filing the bill last week. Officers from the Department of Public safety had to provide surveillance outside of his home for almost four days, he said.

And though the likelihood of whether or not the bill will be passed remains unclear at this time, the Republican Party of Texas declares "abolishing abortion by enacting legislation to stop the murder of unborn children" as one of the current legislative session's priorities.