Democrats captured every major statewide office in Texas on Tuesday, ending more than three decades of Republican dominance in the Lone Star State. Catholics and other Christians are warning that the results threaten hard-won gains on the protection of unborn life and parental rights in education.
In a surprise defeat in the governor’s race, former state legislator Gina Hinojosa defeated three-time incumbent Greg Abbott, who was first elected in 2014. In 2021, he signed into law the Texas Heartbeat Act, which banned abortions once fetal cardiac activity is detectable (around six weeks).
While both Hinojosa and Abbott are Catholic, Hinojosa is pro-abortion, voting against the Heartbeat Act and saying she would sign a bill repealing Texas’ abortion law if it came to her desk, though she has expressed that would be unlikely due to the Republican-majority Legislature. Republicans retained the state Senate but lost their majority in the House.
She said in September that expanding abortion access will not be a priority for her as governor because it will take more than her election to get Texas out of the “deep hole” itʼs in regarding what she calls “reproductive rights.”
Pro-life advocates warn of setbacks, see opportunities
John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life, a Christian pro-life advocacy group, told EWTN News the election results dealt a “devastating blow” to the pro-life movement in Texas, though he said it was not an “utter disaster” because Republicans, many of whom are pro-life, hung on to the state Senate. He said that will provide “a backstop to kill legislation that would move the pro-life movement backwards.”
Seago said the major political change is an opportunity for those who defend life to explain “even more passionately and articulately” why it is so important to do so.
In a message to its supporters, the organization wrote: “We cannot simply focus on elections and expect our culture to change by itself. We must make the case for life in our churches, our communities, and our everyday conversations.”
Seago said the Republican Party is to blame for the massive electoral shift, saying “the only discussion about abortion in Texas in this election came from [U.S. Senate candidate] James Talarico, who claimed God gave Mary the choice to abort Jesus and said the Bible is silent on abortion.”
“Democrats appeared moderate, while Republicans stayed silent,” he said. “That sent a message to pro-lifers that they had a choice between two equal candidates.”
He said Texas Right to Life will now focus its efforts on making sure the Republican-majority state Senate blocks “bad” bills, emphasizing the group will be “vigilant” in working with senators.
He said even in the Democrat-controlled house, the organization will try to make progress on other pro-life issues where there is bipartisan support and “where the Democrats are usually right there with us,” including protecting patients’ rights, improving foster care and adoption services, and supporting nonprofits that help women.
Anthony Joseph, a history professor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, told EWTN News that Catholics “who’ve been buoyed by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision are being painfully reminded yet again that the democratic process often morally misfires and creates innocent human casualties.”
“Voters often are simply unaware of the harm they are doing,” he said.
Joseph said “one consolation for pro-lifers is that Dobbs allowed states to protect unborn children, and the protective laws that resulted in some states will not easily be repealed.”
“In Texas, the state Senate will likely continue to have a pro-life majority but Catholics must continue to urge these legislators to uphold current Texas law,” he said.
Catholics in those states need “to double and triple their outreach” to state legislators to ensure that these laws stay on the books, he said.
Parental rights and education policy at risk
Hinojosa opposes Abbott’s Texas Freedom of Education Act, which expanded school choice through vouchers parents can use at private schools, calling it a “payout for the privileged” because she says it takes money away from public schools and favors the rich.
Joseph said school vouchers encourage religious freedom and empower parents, who, as the Church teaches, bear the primary responsibility for the education of their children.
“Parents should have more say in where and how their children are educated,” Joseph said, highlighting that low-income parents who live in neighborhoods with failing public schools especially benefit from the program.
Susan Hanssen, a history professor at the University of Dallas, agreed, telling EWTN News that Hinojosaʼs election is “a big loss for a key principle of Catholic social doctrine — the rights of parents over their childrenʼs education.”
“The school voucher program frees parents from the stranglehold of the teacherʼs unions, which consistently oppose parental rights in education legislation. It will now be up to the Republicans in the state Senate to defend parental rights,” Hanssen said.
“The Church urges Catholics to participate in civic life,” Joseph noted, saying they should remain engaged between elections as much as during election seasons. “Our duty to seek the common good is not episodic but ongoing. It neither begins nor ends with voting, and continues whether our preferred party wins or not.”
