Texas Health and Safety Code - HEALTH & SAFETY § 171.202. Legislative Findings

(1) fetal heartbeat has become a key medical predictor that an unborn child will reach live birth;

(2) cardiac activity begins at a biologically identifiable moment in time, normally when the fetal heart is formed in the gestational sac;

(3) Texas has compelling interests from the outset of a woman's pregnancy in protecting the health of the woman and the life of the unborn child;  and

(4) to make an informed choice about whether to continue her pregnancy, the pregnant woman has a compelling interest in knowing the likelihood of her unborn child surviving to full-term birth based on the presence of cardiac activity.