The U.S. Supreme Court requires that judicial bypass cases be confidential and anonymous, [Joe Pojman] says, and identifying judges wasn't the intent. The information collected could be used to direct policy, he says, like reporting appellate court decisions to give guidance to lower courts. "It's a pretty serious thing to suspend parent's rights," he says. "We've got to have some accountability for those courts.
The bill's supporters also say the abortion data-which would have included the father's age, the reason for the abortion, and who paid for it-would be used to direct public policy. Rep. Jessica Farrar, a Houston Democrat, says the bill's sponsors never clarified what kind of policy change would result. "That was left wide open," Farrar says. "They wouldn't give an affirmative,...
... siphoned off money from women's health programs. There was little reason to believe this session w... cuts to CHIP, to public education, immunization programs, on and on, all these things that we're 4...