AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas Senate panel on Thursday considered legislation that would clarify medical exceptions to the state’s near-total abortion ban.
The Senate State Affairs Committee heard testimony on three abortion-related bills. The bills would crack down on abortion pill access, block taxpayer-funded abortion travel and clarify when doctors can perform an abortion in medical emergencies.
Senate Bill 31 by Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola), dubbed the “Life of the Mother Act,” does not expand abortion access or change any exceptions to the law but aims to clarify the existing law. It makes it clear when doctors can intervene to save a pregnant patient’s life.
“The intent of this bill is to remove any excuse when a mom is in danger or her physical health, major bodily function, her life is in danger,” Hughes said.
Hughes acknowledged the strong viewpoints on both sides of the abortion issue, but he said, “When we’re talking about the mom in her life, her condition, that’s something most of us agree on.”
Texas has some of the strictest abortion restrictions in the nation. Currently, doctors can only perform abortions if a woman’s life is in danger or she’s at risk of losing a major bodily function.
Doctors who perform abortions can lose their medical licenses or face up to 99 years in prison or a $100,000 fine if they don’t comply with the law, leaving many doctors afraid to perform the procedure.
SB 31 still requires patients to have medical emergencies, but it clarifies that doctors don’t have to delay care if doing so would increase the pregnant woman’s risk of death or loss of bodily function. It also reiterates that doctors can remove ectopic pregnancies or the remains of a fetus after a miscarriage. Broadening the definitions of those conditions strengthens protections for doctors treating them.
The bill would require doctors and lawyers to get training about the abortion law. The Texas Medical Board would offer the course. The bill clarifies that a doctor or lawyer can talk with a patient about a medically necessary abortion without fear of legal repercussions or being considered to be “aiding and abetting.”
“The bill does a lot of good things to increase the confidence for doctors that they can treat immediately,” John Seago, President of Texas Right to Life, said. “Texas can protect babies from abortion, and it can protect moms and their health. We want to do that with Senate Bill 31.”
Dr. Julie Ayala, an OB-GYN from Tyler, expressed her support for the bill while speaking on behalf of the Texas Medical Association.
“This bill will clear up confusion and save women’s lives,” Ayala said. “This bill will also help us recruit and retain OB-GYNs in the great state of Texas, which is currently a huge challenge.”
The confusion and vague language in the abortion ban has led doctors to delay care until the patient’s condition worsens and they are closer to death or choosing to pursue other procedures.
“It is our sincere belief and hope that the amendments made by the Life of the Mother Act will have an immediate impact in Texas and help Texas hospitals continue to facilitate the provision of the necessary and lifesaving medical care to our patients,” Heather De La Garza-Barone, the Associate General Counsel for the Texas Hospital Association said.
ProPublica has reported that at least three pregnant women in Texas have died as a result of not getting care, and multiple women have sued the state, saying they were denied abortions even though their lives were at risk because the law is too vague. Medical experts who the publication spoke to said their lives could have been saved if doctors performed abortions. More than 100 Texas OB-GYNs signed an open letter urging state lawmakers to make changes.
“People will continue to die to experience devastating health outcomes, including the loss of their fertility, and pregnant people will continue to die, and their blood is on your hands because of these bans and because of these bills,” said Gwen Murata, a University of Texas Law Student.
The Texas Alliance for Life said 132 medically necessary abortions have taken place since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022.
Notably, SB 31 doesn’t expand abortion access, something several women who testified today say they want.
While abortion advocates say the Life of the Mother Act is a good step forward, they want to see more exceptions to the abortion ban, including in cases of rape, incest, and lethal fetal abnormalities.
“The clarifying language in the bill is a nominal change at best. As long as we have an abortion ban in this state, people will continue to risk death just by becoming pregnant,” Murata said. “Furthermore, it rips away the choice every person should have on whether or not they want to have children in the first place.”
In October 2021, Caitlin Cash found out her baby had a lethal skeletal fetal anomaly and was told that if he survived birth, he would suffocate within minutes and need extreme medical intervention. So, she went out of state to get an abortion.
“Pregnancy and parenthood are complicated. No law should dictate how you grow or care for your family, and no law can account for every emergency, every diagnosis, and every moment of a reproductive journey,” Cash said. “While this bill might enable doctors to intervene faster when your life is at risk, I hope it does. I want Texans to demand more from their legislature, though. We should be demanding the freedom to access care, the freedom for our doctors to give care and dignity, and to have our medical decisions respected.”
Austin abortion rights supporter Amanda Zurawski has spoken extensively about her experience trying to get an abortion. She said as difficult as it was for the couple to get pregnant, at 18 weeks, she had complications. Due to Texas abortion laws, her doctor had to wait until Amanda’s life was in danger to perform the procedure.
“It is a physician’s job to provide care for all of their patients, and I don’t believe this bill, as it’s written, doesn’t allow them to do that. Exceptions to abortion do not work. No two pregnancies are the same, so we cannot expect the blanket rule to be applicable to all cases,” Zuwarski testified. “Carving out exceptions for one type of complication but not another creates a health care meritocracy, which is not how I believe you would want physicians to operate.”
Zurawski shared her story last summer in front of a national audience at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The committee also heard testimony on Senate Bill 33 by State Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels), which would stop city and county from supporting abortion funds and nonprofits that help people travel out of state for abortions. Campbell said it closes a loophole she believes towns like Austin and San Antonio are exploiting.
Last year, Austin’s city council set aside $400,000 to help residents get abortions out of state. Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit over the policy, arguing that it violates state law.
“Senate Bill 33 ensures that local governments comply with Texas pro-life laws by preventing indirect funding that enables abortion services, thereby maintaining fiscal integrity and moral accountability,” Campbell said.
The San Antonio City Council allocated $500,000 for a reproductive justice fund. While it was originally earmarked for out-of-state travel, it ended up going to address reproductive and sexual health gaps. None of that Reproductive Justice Fund money is being distributed to help women travel out of state to get an abortion.
“We’ve had protections for taxpayers for years for decades now, thanks to the Hyde Amendment that respects and protects taxpayers from participating in the illegal and unconscionable acts throughout the United States of America,” Patrick Von Dohlen with the San Antonio Family Association said. “We need the Hyde Amendment here in Texas now.”
Critics testified that SB 33 infringes on the rights of individuals and localities.
“This bill truly and callously increases pregnancy risks by making it more difficult to learn about and exercise health care options,” Murata said. “This takes away Texans ability to act at the local level and oppresses Texas cities and counties, attempting to provide legal assistance for people that need to leave the state.”
Critics say the bill, which would ban funds for travel, lodging, meals, and childcare expenses, would especially hurt those without economic resources.
“This is especially cruel because it attacks people without the resources to leave the state on their own,” Murata said. “People with money and cannot afford it will be able to leave the state to go to places like New York or New Mexico where it is legal, while people who will be forced to carry pregnancies that either don’t want or against their health.”
Senate Bill 2880 would increase the penalties for mailing abortion pills to Texas. It would also allow Texans to file lawsuits against those who are mailing or trafficking abortion bills.
“These are serious risks to women, and they illegally take the lives of little unborn babies,” Hughes said. “These drugs are ordered online, shipped to the mother’s doorstep, where she’s left to have her abortion alone without any care from the doctor. As some may be aware, the standard of care for abortion-inducing drugs has always required a visit to a doctor.”
The bill would hold manufacturers and distributors of abortion pills liable and include market-share liability. The bill would also allow women and families to bring wrongful death and injury suits six years after being injured by abortion.
SB 2880 also opens up civil liability for anyone who possesses, distributes, or provides information on how to obtain abortions. There are exceptions for doctors treating a woman during a medical emergency, and pregnant women themselves are not liable.
It would make it a crime for people and organizations to fund others’ abortions, even out of state and give more power to the Attorney General’s Office.
“We are allowing this proliferation of online access to abortion drugs with no medical oversight,” Leanne Jamieson, the executive director at the Prestwood Pregnancy Center in the Dallas area, said. “ I believe doctors are to do no harm. This is not doing no harm.”
Anti-abortion advocates say it is time Texas cracks down on the underground abortion industry.
“The abortion pill is not health care, and it’s not rare. It’s a pattern of reckless distribution with no oversight. There are no checks for ectopic pregnancy, in which case the abortion pill can be fatal for a woman,” Mark Cavaliere, CEO of Guiding Star Southwest Birth and Wellness Centers, said. “No checks for routine tissue afterward. No checks for the RH blood factor, which could subject some women to chronic miscarriages for subsequent pregnancies.”
OBGYNs say a tiny fraction of patients suffer “major” or “serious” adverse events after taking FDA-approved abortion pills like Mifepristone.
Lawmakers left all three bills pending in committee. They will have to vote to advance them later to allow the full Senate to debate them.
The committee had a long agenda with other bills not related to abortion they expected to take up on Thursday, including one that would ban kratom and other “gas station drugs,” another that would make it easier for lawmakers to override the governor’s veto, and several other election-related bills.