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The Texas Senate unanimously passed a law aimed at preventing mothers’ deaths under the state’s strict abortion ban.
Written in response to last year’s propaganda investigation, Senate Bill 31, called Motherland Law, represents a prominent shift among Republican lawmakers who were former supporters of the ban. For the first time in four years, they acknowledged that women were denied care due to legal disruptions and took action to clarify the conditions.
“There’s no reason to hesitate,” said Republican state Sen. Brian Hughes. Just last fall, he said the law he wrote was “clear enough.”
The bill will remove what doctors say is the biggest obstacle to prohibitions on care, including major criminal penalties, and will not expand abortion access to cases of fetal abnormalities, rape or incest. Sen. Carol Alvarado, a Democrat who co-authored the bill, said that the limitations are “really hard to swallow,” but that it can still make a difference. “I believe this bill will save lives,” she said.
Propublica’s report showed that state doctors are waiting for intervention to ban abortion if a woman ultimately dies from high-risk complications.
To address that issue, Senate Bill 31 says that a life-threatening medical emergency does not need to be “immediate.” Doctors also say that ectopic pregnancy can be terminated, where fertilized egg implants outside the uterine cavity develop. Pregnant patients will be able to receive cancer treatment, Hughes said.
The bill also makes it clear that medical staff or hospital staff can discuss termination with patients without violating the provisions of the Act that “assist and be” abortion. For doctors, it was unclear whether simply discussing options could lead to sudden penalties. Patients report that they are unable to get a straightforward answer from their provider about their prognosis and treatment options.
If the bill is made, it remains to be seen how the law will be interpreted by doctors and hospitals, and whether risk aversion facilities will still delay care during pregnancy complications.
Many reproductive advocates are skeptical given that the bill does not explicitly address many high-risk pregnancy complications. The most common thing in the late pregnancy, the common early rupture of a membrane or PPROM, occurs when someone’s water breaks early. In these cases, the fetus is unlikely to survive, but delaying the end of pregnancy puts the patient at risk of infection. Since the state banned abortions, lawyers at many Texas hospitals have advised doctors not to empty their uterus until they can record any signs of infection.
The death of Josseli Barnica, reported last year by Propublica, reveals the risk of forcing patients with miscarriage to wait for care. Diagnosed in 17 weeks with a “inevitable” miscarriage, she showed symptoms similar to PPROMs without an official diagnosis. Her water hadn’t broken yet. While stable, she was forced to wait for 40 hours for the fetal heartbeat to finish before the doctor caused the birth. She later died of sepsis, but medical experts say it is likely that she developed because she was waiting.
In addition to documenting cases in which women die of sepsis, Propublica shows how it spikes the percentage of fatal complications that could surge in more than 50% statewide in hospitalizations for a pregnancy loss in the second half of pregnancy after Texas banned abortion.
Officials from the Texas Medical Association, the Texas Hospital Association and major anti-abortion groups, the Texas Alliance for Life for Life of Gins, told Propoblica that the bill would allow terminations at the time of PPROM diagnosis before the infection was set.
Dr. Zeke Silva, chair of the Law Council of Texas Medical Council, has included the PPROM in the list of potentially life-threatening conditions that he thought could be a clear exception to the bill. Non-exhaustive lists include pre-lamp disease, renal failure, liver failure, heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, and neurological symptoms. He added that because the condition can be life-threatening, it may be “subjective based on multiple clinical considerations by definition,” so the decision to intervene is to intervene and must be based on “sound medical judgment.”
However, Propublica spoke with six legal experts who said they were unsure whether hospitals that are cautious about lawsuits and penalties would interpret it as meaning that doctors can provide terminations to patients with PPROMs.
Some PPROM patients may become pregnant for several weeks and not develop an infection, while others may develop an infection that can get worse very quickly, said Molly Duane, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “This allowed us to see some doctors saying, “We can afford to intervene in all PPROM cases.”
Texas GOP lawmakers propose amending abortion bans related to increased deaths and sepsis cases
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the largest association of OB-Gyns, said in an emailed statement it did not support the bill.
Yesterday, the Texas Senate also passed Bill 2880. This allows civil lawsuits against anyone outside the state of Texas or who distributes or provides abortion medication to someone in the state. It is expected to face pushbacks at the state capitol.
The Mothers Act now requires you to vote from the committee before heading to the House of Representatives where you can head to the floor of your house. Both rooms must agree to the final version before the governor signs the law.
