ACTION ALERT

Express your support for rules on proper burial of children lost through abortion or miscarriage

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) recently announced its intent to conduct a public hearing to receive comments on proposed rules concerning new state regulations issued by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) that require the interment of the remains of all children who are lost through abortion or miscarriage at a healthcare or abortion facility. The proposed rules may be found here. You can click on page number 6469 in the table of contents to go directly to the rules. 

A public hearing will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on December 11, 2017, in the Brown-Heatly Building, Public Hearing Room, Health and Human Services Commission, 4900 N. Lamar Boulevard, Austin, Texas 78751. If the time allotted does not accommodate the number of individuals registered to speak, HHSC will extend the public hearing until no later than 5 p.m. on December 11, 2017 to accommodate as many registrants as possible.

Ways You Can Help

We ask you to express your support for these rules and encourage Catholics who are able to come to the public hearing to: 

(1) Give testimony and share any personal involvement or experience you have with the burial of children before birth; 

(2) Contact HHSC with your written comments on the rules. 

The easiest way to show your support is by email, but you can also send written comments by mail or sign up to give testimony in addition to that. Contact information for the Texas HHS Commission may be found below. 

Written Comments. Written comments may be sent by email, U.S. mail, private courier, or hand delivery. You may consider incorporating these three points in your testimony:

• These rules are long overdue and treat unborn children who die before birth like anyone else; 
• Expressly state that you support the implementation of these rules; 
• The non-profit registry allows civil society to engage in support of these rules by allowing non-profits to provide free burial or financial assistance. 

The subject line to your email should be "Comments Regarding the Disposition of Embryonic and Fetal Tissue Remains TRD-201704590."  Additionally, the TCCB has written a previous post here that may provide you some additional guidance on what to present. 

Email 
[email protected]

The subject line to your email should be "Comments Regarding the Disposition of Embryonic and Fetal Tissue Remains TRD-201704590." 

U.S. Mail 
Texas Health and Human Services Commission 
Attention: Donyiel Davis 
Mail Code 1065 
P.O. Box 149030 
Austin, Texas 78714-9030 

Hand delivery 
Texas Health and Human Services Commission 
Attention: Donyiel Davis 
Brown-Heatly Building 
4900 North Lamar Austin, Texas 78751 
Phone number for package delivery: (512) 428-1922 
 

If you have a personal story about any of these issues, please share this with the Commission.

This is a critical moment in the rulemaking process.

Thank you for putting your faith into action and helping finalize these laws to ensure the humane burial of unborn children.

PLEASE SHARE THIS IMPORTANT ACTION ALERT