May 25, 2015 2:56 PM

Updated: Texas Senate tentatively passes bill to restrict judicial bypass for minors seeking abortions

Democrats go to bat with points of order; Capitol observers say they've not seen this many POO's in the Senate in more than a decade; Gov. Patrick concedes he is setting new precedent with a ruling on one of them

After more than 3 hours of a thorough but somewhat subdued debate, the Texas Senate on Monday passed one of the biggest pieces of anti-abortion legislation still on the table this session. House Bill 3994 would make it much more difficult for a minor to go to a judge and get the green light to have an abortion in cases when a parent either will not or is not available to grant such permission.

Judicial bypass, as it is known, was first passed in Texas back in 1999 when it enjoyed bipartisan support and was signed into law by then-Gov. George. W. Bush. Other than banning insurance from covering “elective abortions” – a proposal that has new life in the Texas House and is set for debate Tuesday – this judicial bypass “reform” is one of the biggest prizes anti-abortion activists seek from the 84th Legislature.

The Senate sponsor, Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, argued for hours that the bill would “protect” abused minors and give “clarity” to judges. The bill was passed to third reading on a vote of 21 to 10, with Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, joining with Republicans as he often does on anti-abortion legislation.

Before Sen. Perry moved to bring the bill to the floor, Democrats unleashed two points of order, including one from Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, which ended up being precedent-setting in nature.

By Scott Braddock