Abortion Issues Dominate Debate in Texas House

AUSTIN (AP) � For some Republicans in the Texas House, it’s becoming all about abortion, all the time. Conservative representatives tried to tack obscure anti-abortion measures onto important but otherwise unrelated legislation throughout the day Monday. Liberals countered with long-winded speeches, points of order and other clumsy delaying tactics. As legislators took up a fairly benign proposal creating health cooperatives for private insurance companies, Republican Rep. Bryan Hughes of Mineola proposed an amendment that would bar private insurers statewide from reimbursing patients for abortions once the federal health care act is implemented in Texas. Hughes was eventually forced to scrap that motion, and the House passed the bill Tuesday. Later, however, a bill modifying operation of the state judiciary passed with two amendments related to toughening rules on waiving parental consent for minors seeking to have abortion. Another measure failed to adopt.