It’s becoming more clear that the Texas abortion ban is hurting women's health care in the state.
Pregnancies that are forced to go to term are at least 14 times more likely to result in death than an abortion would. That’s according to the 2012 study “The comparative safety of legal induced abortion and childbirth in the United States.” Published by the National Institute of Health and cited over 400 times.
This means abortion bans like we have in Texas forces women to risk their lives when they become pregnant. And that’s because exceptions in the law to the abortion ban have been confusing.
In abortion-ban states, patients with ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages and excessive hemorrhaging — conditions that call for abortion care — can’t be treated until fetal heartbeats disappear or patients are on the brink of death.
A 2022 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that doctors at two Texas hospitals cited the cases of 28 women less than 23 weeks pregnant who were treated for dangerous pregnancies.
The doctors noted that all of the women had recommended abortions delayed by nine days because fetal heart activity was detected.
Of those, nearly 60% developed severe complications — nearly double the number of complications experienced by patients in other states who had immediate therapeutic abortions.
Currently the Texas Medical Board is trying to provide doctors with clear guidelines to avoid these delays, but according to recent testimony those guidelines and checklists could create even longer delays to provide treatment, making being pregnant in Texas even more dangerous.
The Texas Medical Board met on Friday to consider rules to guide doctors on the exceptions in the state’s abortion ban—and it voted in favor of a proposed rule that includes some changes from the original proposal, including specifying that doctors have 7 days to document their decision to provide an abortion.
The new proposed rule, now posted on the TMB website, will be available for public comment for a minimum of 30 days before the board can vote to finalize it.
Abortion Travel Since Dobbs
Monday is the marking of two years since the U.S. Supreme court’s Dobbs decision that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.
Since that day Texas has enforced a near absolute abortion ban—meaning, for many, if they want to legally and safely terminate an unwanted pregnancy or a pregnancy that threatens the life of the mother, they must travel out of state.
And a new analysis by the Center for American Progress shows how dramatically longer it now takes a woman to access abortion care since the Dobbs decision.
Nationally, travel time to access abortion care increased 300 percent, but it’s even worse for women in Texas.
Texas is ranked 3rd among states with the largest percentage changes in driving times since the Dobbs decision with an 869 percent increase—an additional 6 hours and 31 minutes in drive time.
To find out more, I spoke with Sara Estep, the associate director of the Women’s Initiative at Center for American Progress and author of Abortion Access Mapped by Congressional District: Center for American Progress
Rep. Cuellar Pushes Back
South Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar says he’s being targeted by the Department of Justice.
Cuellar was indicted on bribery and money laundering charges, but he continues to seek re-election.
Earlier this week I sat down with the Laredo Democrat for this exclusive interview.
Unaccompanied Voices
Each year tens of thousands of unaccompanied children arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border. Most are coming up from Central America after a long, often dangerous journey. But the motivation to leave their homes isn’t always clear.
Many children attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border are asylum seekers left with no choice but to travel to the United States.
We would like to share with you the story of one 16-year-old who recently made that passage and now lives in Texas. The story is told by his classmates at an inner-city San Antonio high school. Due to issues of residency status, we are unable to disclose their names.
