- Texas voters approved Proposition 15 on Nov. 4, adding parental rights protections to the state constitution with 70% support.
- The measure affirms parents’ fundamental right to make decisions about their children’s upbringing, care, and education.
- Supporters – largely conservative groups – say it safeguards parental authority against shifting judicial or political interpretations.
- Some left-wing groups oppose the proposition and argue it’s redundant, vague, and could negatively affect the public education system.
Texas voters Nov. 4 approved a constitutional amendment aimed at strengthening parental rights, a proposition that a left-wing group had described as “unnecessary, vague, and dangerous.”
According to Ballotpedia, the ballot initiative, Proposition 15, affirms that “a parent has the responsibility to nurture and protect the parent’s child and the corresponding fundamental right to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing.” About 70% of voters supported the measure.
The Nation reported that the ballot was initially a state Senate joint resolution, sponsored by several Republicans and one Democrat. The initiative continually won bipartisan support as it headed to the ballot, the outlet reported, with every Republican and two-thirds of Democratic legislators ultimately voting to pass the proposition.
Right-leaning organizations, such as Texans for Vaccine Choice, Texas Right to Life, and the Family Freedom Project, backed the proposition. Left-wing advocates, including Progress Texas and pro-abortion group Avow Texas, said that the initiative was redundant because Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill in June that protects parental rights. Left-wing groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, have opposed sections of that legislation as well.
Avow Texas said that Proposition 15 would not protect parents’ rights but would instead “open the door for another parent’s personal beliefs to strip rights from other people’s children and their families.”
Progress Texas reportedly called the proposal an attack on the public education system, saying that it could “weaponize the Constitution to propagate right-wing culture wars involving LGBTQ+ families, book bans, and what’s taught in public schools.”
However, proponents of the initiative argue that it ensures that parental rights will be honored and protected in the future amid a shifting political landscape. According to Ballotpedia, Republican State Sen. Bryan Hughes, who authored the bill, said that Proposition 15 would “provide clarity for lawyers, judges, and parents.”
“Parents’ constitutional rights are scattered over a hundred years of case law,” he added. “This resolution is designed to put all well established law in one place in the Constitution.”
Jeremy Newman, director of public policy for the Texas Home School Coalition, said that as state law stood before Proposition 15, the interpretation of the constitutional rights of parents was up to judges.
“Those rights could disappear if we have bad judges who make it into office,” he said, according to Ballotpedia.
He continued, “Adding parental rights to the Texas Constitution is a critical protection for these most foundational rights that families have, which are essential to the functioning of our society.”
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