Texas Senate candidate James Talarico refused to support a 2019 Texas bill that would stop infanticide.
He refused to vote for legislation that required doctors to give life-saving medical care to infants born alive after an abortion, a measure pro-life lawmakers said was necessary to stop infanticide.
Talarico, then representing Round Rock and now the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate, recorded his vote as “present, not voting” on House Bill 16, the Texas Born-Alive Infant Protection Act. He did not vote yes to mandate that physicians treat a child who survives an abortion the same way they would treat any other infant born at the same gestational age.
Texas Right to Life gave Talarico a 0 percent pro-life score for the 86th Legislative Session. The group cited his present-not-voting stance on the born-alive bill and his opposition to expanding the state’s Alternatives to Abortion program.
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The born-alive bill, authored by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, created criminal and civil penalties for doctors who withhold appropriate care. A physician who failed to act after a failed abortion could face a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a civil fine of at least $100,000. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the measure, and it took effect Sept. 1, 2019.
Leach said the legislation filled a gap in existing law.
“I am proud to join my colleagues in setting in stone the strongest protections in the nation for babies who survive abortion,” he said. On the House floor he added, “This legislation is about protecting innocent life, a baby who was born alive. I don’t think that’s a charade. I think that’s why we’re here.”
The House approved the bill 93-1, but Talarico refused to support it even though twelve Democrats crossed party lines to vote yes. The Senate passed companion legislation 21-10.
Texas Right to Life’s 2019 scorecard on Talarico stated he “refused to support basic protections and medical care for children who survive an attempted abortion.” The organization wrote that by voting present, not voting, Talarico was “hoping to confuse voters and avoid responsibility for turning a blind eye to infanticide.”
Pro-life groups argued that while homicide statutes already applied to born children, they lacked specific, enforceable penalties aimed at abortion centers that might withhold active medical intervention from an infant who survived an abortion. The new law required the same degree of professional skill and diligence a physician would use for any other child of the same gestational age and directed that the infant be transferred to a hospital.
The 2019 law remains on the books. Talarico has not publicly changed his position on the born-alive vote.
