Texas lawmakers worked well into Tuesday morning as they listened to hundreds of Texans testify in support of a bill that would criminalize abortion and threaten the death penalty to any woman who undergoes the procedure. In total 446 people testified in support of the “Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act,” or House Bill 896, which aims to outlaw all abortions “regardless of any contrary federal law, executive order, or court decision.” State Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R) introduced the bill in 2017, which would define abortion as murder which is punishable by death in the state of Texas. “God’s word says, ‘He who sheds man’s blood, by man ― the civil government ― his blood will be shed,’” Sonya Gonnella, a supporter of the bill, testified in the hearing before the Texas House’s Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence on Monday. After quoting the Book of Genesis, Gonella implored the committee to “repent with us” by passing the proposed legislation. Lawmakers in the hearing, which wrapped around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, also heard from people opposed to the bill. In total 54 Texans, including women’s advocates and legal experts, testified against the bill, according to the Washington Post. Supporters of the bill gathered in Texas Capitol Rotunda ahead of the hearing on Monday night, chanting “abolish abortion” and “equal protection for all.”

Scene at #txlege where members of Abolish Abortion TX are chanting, soon to be holding a rally, and later testifying on HB 896, which would abolish abortion in the state of Texas. pic.twitter.com/TcAqWcXxS1 — Katie Balevic (@KatelynBalevic) April 8, 2019

“I’m trying to reconcile in my head the arguments that I heard tonight about how essentially one is OK with subjecting a woman to the death penalty... to do to her the exact same thing that one is alleging she is doing to a child,” state Rep. Victoria Neave (D) said during the hearing. The proposed legislation would ban abortion at every stage of pregnancy, even in cases of rape and incest, and it would modify Texas’ state penal code to allow both women and abortion providers to be charged with murder. Tinderholt’s bill defines an embryo as “a living human child” beginning at “the moment of fertilization.” Under the proposed legislation, an embryo would be afforded the same “rights, powers, and privileges as are secured or granted by the laws of this state to any other human child.” The bill is in direct conflict with Roe v. Wade, which makes criminalizing abortion blatantly unconstitutional. “I think it’s important to remember that if a drunk driver kills a pregnant woman, they get charged twice. If you murder a pregnant woman, you get charged twice. So I’m not specifically criminalizing women. What I’m doing is equalizing the law,” Tinderholt said during the hearing, according to Fox 9.

I’m not specifically criminalizing women. What I’m doing is equalizing the law. Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R)