Issue Position: Pro-Life

Issue Position

Gov. Perry on Pro-Life Policy

Gov. Perry is the most pro-life governor Texas has ever had and has implemented a number of significant reforms to protect life and strengthen Texas families across our state.

* Abortion. Gov. Perry has worked diligently to make Texas safer for the unborn by signing both parental notification and parental consent laws to ensure parents are involved in their minor daughters' major decisions. He signed a ban making certain that tax dollars are not used to support abortion facilities and helped implement the strictest third trimester abortion ban in the nation.

* Banning Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Gov. Perry supports a ban on human cloning and has vowed to veto any legislation that provides state dollars for embryonic stem cell research. He has been a strong advocate of utilizing adult stem cells in their place. Adult stem cell research can provide much-needed solutions for Texans suffering from various tissue and organ disorders while protecting the unborn from exploitation. They are also proven more effective in research than embryonic stem cells.

* Protecting Traditional Marriage. Gov. Perry championed a constitutional amendment that defines marriage in Texas as the union of one man and one woman, which was passed by Texas voters in 2005.

* Promoting Adoption. Gov. Perry has been a longtime advocate of adoption. One of his many efforts to encourage adoption in Texas includes the creation of an adoption incentive program designed to lessen the financial burden for families to adopt children in foster care. Created in 2007, the program provides a monthly health insurance subsidy of $150 for parents who adopt foster children who do not qualify for Medicaid. This effort, alongside many others, has helped nearly double the number of adoptions in Texas since 2004.

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