Tex. Health & Safety Code § 171.202 · Subchapter H. DETECTION OF FETAL HEARTBEAT
LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.
Text — Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
The legislature finds, according to contemporary medical research, that:
(1) fetal heartbeat has become a key medical predictor that an unborn child will reach live birth;
(2) cardiac activity begins at a biologically identifiable moment in time, normally when the fetal heart is formed in the gestational sac;
(3) Texas has compelling interests from the outset of a woman's pregnancy in protecting the health of the woman and the life of the unborn child; and
(4) to make an informed choice about whether to continue her pregnancy, the pregnant woman has a compelling interest in knowing the likelihood of her unborn child surviving to full-term birth based on the presence of cardiac activity.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 62 (S.B. 8), Sec. 3, eff. September 1, 2021.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
- Official file
- https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/HS/htm/HS.171.htm
- Text hash
- sha256 aeb88eb1b6576ba02d41da5dd2d3b610551382240da69b21c5631cc4642ba60d
- Composed by
- compose_tx.py 2026-10-05: the Legislative Council's chapter files read in document order; verify_tx.py's independent reading (lxml DOM walk) agrees character for character
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.