HB 126: Rep. Donna Howard Files to Repeal the Abortion Ban and the Trans Youth Care Ban in One Bill
One of the first bills through the door on filing day would unwind the trigger law, the Heartbeat Act, the 1920s statutes and SB 14's care ban together — into a Republican-controlled Senate that is unlikely to pass it.
AUSTIN — Most first-day bills pick one fight. House Bill 126, filed Monday by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, picks two of the biggest of the last Texas era at once: it would repeal the state's abortion ban and its ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth in a single measure, striking dozens of provisions of state law. Howard, a former nurse who has held her seat since 2006 and chairs the Texas Women's Health Caucus, was among the first lawmakers through the door as prefiling opened for the 90th Legislature.
The abortion provisions are sweeping. HB 126 would repeal the "trigger" law that made abortion illegal in Texas after Roe v. Wade was overturned, the Texas Heartbeat Act — the law that lets private citizens sue anyone who helps someone obtain an abortion after about six weeks — the abortion statutes dating to the 1920s, the forced-sonogram provisions, and the 2021 restrictions on abortion pills, among other sections. The youth-care provisions repeal Subchapter X of Chapter 161 of the Health and Safety Code, the core of SB 14, the 2023 law barring doctors from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical care to transgender youth, along with SB 14's Medicaid exclusion. One provision appears to have been missed: the bill does not repeal Section 164.0552, which requires the Texas Medical Board to revoke the license of a doctor who provides such care — though that section is tied to a violation of SB 14 itself, which HB 126 would remove.
The arithmetic is the obstacle, and it is not hidden. Republicans still control the Texas Senate, and the bill is assessed, in the analysis published with its filing, as unlikely to get past that chamber. It lands, too, against the incoming administration's own stated ordering: Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa told the Houston Chronicle in September that rolling back the abortion and trans youth care restrictions would "not be my priority." There has been movement on the enforcement side since the election — Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson has said he would "not pursue the judicially absurd position that Texas law has extra territorial effect," breaking with Ken Paxton's practice of suing out-of-state doctors who mail abortion pills to Texans. Whether HB 126 becomes the session's vehicle on these issues, or an early marker of where the new House majority intends to push, is a January question; the session convenes Jan. 12 and filing runs through March 12.
