By Jennifer Allmon, Associate Director, Texas Catholic Conference

The foundational principle of medical ethics is the principle of nonmaleficence, commonly referred to as, “First, Do No Harm.” The second moral principle, beneficence, is to “Do Good.” When the Texas Legislature meets, the Texas Catholic Conference is blessed to be able to offer our full support to some of the proposed legislation and on other legislation, we are obliged to oppose. These are usually clear and straightforward positions for us to take.

In other cases, however, the Bishops are asked to compromise with other stakeholders in order to achieve an incremental success. This legislative session, there are three crucial compromises that the Bishops were asked to make. They accepted one on the sonogram bill, rejected one on advance directive reform, and changed their position on legislation on payday lending. When these dilemmas occur, the directives “First Do No Harm” and “Do Good” are helpful tools to outline our positions on compromise.

Sonogram Compromise (HB 15): The Bishops support legislation to require access to a sonogram and improvements to the informed consent process, including requiring a private meeting with the physician 24 hours prior to an abortion. There were not enough votes in the Senate to maintain the private meeting in all cases. Because the bill does no harm, and does good, the Bishops agreed to a compromise that ensures that the 24 hour waiting period and private meeting occurs in 93% of the abortions that take place in Texas. The bill is awaiting final vote in the Senate at the time of this writing.

Advance Directives Compromise (HB 3520): The Bishops have repeatedly supported legislation that respects autonomy and human dignity, both for patients and providers of end of life care. Legislation on the issue of advance directives is complex and contentious. The Bishops support a comprehensive review of the current advance directives act. The Bishops oppose indefinite treatment for dying patients, which HB 3520 would require. The committee asked the Bishops to accept a revision that would put a 180 day limit on treatment for dying patients. This revision, while possibly allowing a family to find other providers to agree with their wishes, may still make a bad law worse. Because the compromise fails to meet the moral principal, “first do no harm,” the Bishops cannot accept it and continue to oppose the bill.  The bill has not been voted out of the House committee at the time of this writing.

Payday Lending Compromise (HB 2593 & SB 1862): The Bishops have called on the legislature to reform the payday lending industry and end 500% annual percentage interest rates. They started out supporting SB 1862, which places a cap on interest and fees, and opposing HB 2593, which does not offer meaningful reform and prohibits a cap on interest and fees. As the bill authors made compromises on the bills, the content changed. The Bishops ultimately withdrew their support SB 1862 due to the lack of a cap on interest rates and fees. However, because the bill still offers some potential for positive reform, they chose not to oppose it. HB 2593 added new protections for consumers, but prohibited a cap on interest and fees. Based on these protections, the Bishops withdrew opposition of HB 2593, but could not offer support because of the lack of fee caps. While these bills do no harm since rates and fees are currently unlimited, they do not do enough good to earn the support of the Texas Bishops. If these bills pass, the Bishops will work for reasonable rate and fee caps and meaningful enforcement in the future.

Our goals are always to further the dignity of human life at all stages and always to “do no harm.” We thank all of the faithful advocates who have acted on our alerts, participated in advocacy, and prayed for the success of this legislative session.