HEALTH CARE

In August, a judge ruled that the state’s near-total abortion ban should not apply to medically complicated pregnancies. The state appealed that ruling to the Texas Supreme Court, putting it on hold.

The region that includes Amarillo, a Panhandle city of more than 200,000 people, and surrounding towns has long been a mental health care desert. Officials hope a new $159 million hospital can help reduce a massive spike in suicide attempts.

Reporter Eleanor Klibanoff and photojournalist Shelby Tauber talked with Tribune editor Terri Langford about their reporting on a story of a 26-year-old Texan who was told her twin sons had a zero percent chance of survival after childbirth.

Twenty women are challenging the state’s abortion laws, saying they were unable to get the health care they needed for their medically complex pregnancies.

The ban applies to all private businesses, including health care facilities like hospitals, which can jeopardize the health of those with compromised immune systems or other underlying conditions.

Last year, Judge Matthew Kacmsaryk closed off one of the only avenues for Texas teens to get confidential contraception. The 5th Circuit will hear arguments on the controversial case Monday.

Journalists covering the Texas Capitol discussed what came out of this year’s third special session and what is still to be resolved.

The legislation, which Republican lawmakers have been trying to pass since 2021, offers no exceptions for doctors’ offices, clinics or other health facilities.

Texas continues to struggle with maternal mortality and morbidity, despite a decade of tracking and reviewing these cases. Four new research centers will pilot innovative solutions.

Violations could bring a $50,000 fine under an amendment adopted Wednesday. The bill’s sponsor said the ban would be the strongest in the nation.

Lubbock is now the fourth, and largest, county to pass the ordinance which would punish people through civil lawsuits for aiding pregnant women seeking abortions outside of Texas.

The state has given tens of thousands of doses of a drug that can reverse opioid deaths to local governments. It can still save lives after its expiration date, but some government agencies are destroying older doses.

The new clinic met resistance from a vocal group of parents who raised concerns the district was overstepping its authority in caring for students.

The city allocated $500,000 to establish the fund, but has not yet said how that money will be used. The lawsuit asks a judge to block the money from going to groups that pay for out-of-state abortions.

The bill offers no exceptions for doctors’ offices, clinics or other health facilities. Senators agreed to let those entities require unvaccinated employees to wear personal protective gear or take other “reasonable” measures to manage the spread.

La Grange residents worked for months to try to save the 65-bed hospital and asked the city to step in with a loan, but it wasn’t enough.

Long COVID clinics in Texas are few and far between, often with months-long waitlists. But these centers can provide care that validates stigmatized patients, offers unique treatments and teaches physicians more about the new condition.

Miranda Michel, 26, couldn’t leave the state for an abortion. But she also couldn’t bear the idea of carrying a nonviable pregnancy to term.

More than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Texas continues to be the largest state in the nation to ban nearly all abortions. But some questions and changes to abortion and birth control access have arisen since then.

A Senate panel on Tuesday advanced such a measure. The debate centered largely around the safety of the vaccine and whether doctors’ offices and health care facilities should be exempt.

Like many regions in Texas, the county jails and hospitals have been at capacity with people needing mental health help. Local leaders hope a new 200-bed facility will alleviate pressure.

University Health's CareLink program received a $1.5 million federal grant to continue its community outreach and connect families to health insurance.

Doses aren’t arriving at providers’ offices at uniform, predictable intervals. Shipments are largely dependent on individual providers’ ability to work out the logistics of ordering, stocking, training and paperwork.

The groups work in dozens of school districts across the state, but some public health experts say their curricula can be misleading and biased.

Cochran County, which borders New Mexico, joins a small group of other rural Texas counties that have passed these ordinances. Abortion-rights supporters say the new policies are not legal.

Panetti murdered his in-laws in 1992. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 set new court precedent with his case, raising the bar on the constitutional restriction against executing the insane.

Texas Democrats in Congress are urging the federal government to audit the state’s Medicaid eligibility system

Cochran County commissioners meet Thursday to discuss the ban. Abortion-rights supporters say the bans are unenforceable and meant to stoke fear.

Phoenix House is the latest casualty in an escalating funding crisis for Texas treatment centers as the state struggles with startling increases in overdose deaths, particularly among young people.

Here’s a look back at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival through the eyes of Tribune photographers.

The city joins Cambridge, Mass. and the Washington, D.C. area as epicenters of the new agency. A Biden administration initiative, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health will work toward medical breakthroughs in treating diseases like cancer, Alzheimer and diabetes.

An industry leader in the Permian Basin said the new report proves safety regulations are helping. Other observers say more data is needed to understand risks of extraction.

Lawyers criticize a provision they say erodes the separation of powers between Texas’ executive branch and its courts. It’s been used repeatedly this year as Texans try to block new state laws from going into effect

Two Texas lawmakers are among the panelists who will talk about the fight that continues after the Dobbs verdict — from coast to coast and border to border.

How have new laws changed accessible parking? How are violations enforced? Here’s what you need to know about parking for people with disabilities.

The county’s top elected official will be discharged from a mental health facility this weekend and plans to return to work on Oct. 2 after two weeks of outpatient therapy.

Texas is still the state with the highest percentage of uninsured residents, at nearly 17 percent, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau survey released Thursday.

Syphilis rates in Texas continue to climb, alarming healthcare workers who see the highest increases among pregnant people and newborns. A shortage of treatment is complicating efforts to combat it.

Texas Medicaid caregivers’ wages were already near the poverty level. But parents whose sole income came from taking care of their disabled children have now lost their ability to work overtime hours.

Medical professionals now must tell families 25 days in advance before ending care. Some groups wish the state gave families even more power when they disagree with a doctor’s prognosis.

Texas joins a handful of states turn to the north for cheaper drugs. But feds have been slow to approve requests, three years after giving initial OK.

The state attorney general’s office appealed a state district court injunction that said the new prohibitions deprive trans kids of “necessary, safe, and effective medical treatment.”

The emerging technology, paid for by a grant established during the 2023 legislative session, will help emergency health care workers talk with doctors in emergency rooms to better care for critical patients.

Historically, anti-drug messaging in schools has failed to acknowledge the mental health reasons that youth self-medicate. Without that key lesson, advocates worry House Bill 3908 will be another D.A.R.E. campaign.

Advocates say better accounting of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the state’s care and better access to translators are needed.

Texas families and health care providers sued the state over Senate Bill 14, which restricts transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care. The groups are requesting an injunction from a state district court judge before the law goes into effect on Sept. 1.

Planned Parenthood has managed to stay open in Texas despite the state’s best efforts to shut it down. But a lawsuit in front of a conservative judge poses an existential threat.

The new medical facility, to be located in downtown Austin, will help expand the University of Texas System’s reputed cancer center outside of the Houston area.

Summer is almost over, and now is the time to ensure your child is healthy and back-to-school ready.

The Republican from Texas has combined attention to border issues with efforts to address deadly overdoses, including ideas that are opposed by some in his party, such as decriminalizing test strips.

Hidalgo said she was diagnosed with the condition last month and aims to return to her post in September. More people across the country have been diagnosed with the condition since the COVID-19 pandemic.

State District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum on Friday issued a temporary exemption to Texas’ abortion ban. Hours later, the attorney general’s office filed an appeal, which blocked the order.

Federal pandemic relief to hard-hit day care operators is drying up, forcing some providers to close.

When Texas started scrubbing people from Medicaid after a three-year pause on removals during the pandemic, one family lost the insurance coverage that helped provide all treatments for their medically complex child.

The panelists at a Texas Tribune event emphasized the need for a response to combat the dangerous impacts of extreme events that ensures communities receive support to effectively plan, prepare, and recover.

Preparing for a chemical incident means knowing which industrial facilities are near you, creating a disaster supply kit and signing up for alerts from local emergency managers ahead of time.

The professor, an expert on the opioids crisis, was placed on paid administrative leave and investigated, raising questions about the extent of political interference in higher education, particularly in health-related matters.

Continuous Medicaid coverage ended in April. Many of the roughly half-million people stripped from the rolls don’t even know they’ve lost coverage yet.

The women, believed to be the first to testify about an abortion ban’s impact on their pregnancy since 1973, are seeking to clarify when a medical emergency justifies an abortion.

Advocates are calling for a halt to removals until the state can account for why more than 80% of the people who lost Medicaid coverage were eliminated for “procedural” reasons, like not responding to messages from the state.

Texas doctors fear a new era of government intrusion into medicine as lawmakers ban transition care for kids following prohibitions on abortion.

The protesters called House Bill 2127 the “law that kills” and said it will leave those who labor outdoors at the mercy of their employers.

The number of volunteer firefighters has dropped sharply nationwide, a trend that appears to be gripping rural Texas communities.

In triple-digit temperatures, drinking water frequently and resting in the shade are minimum safety measures for avoiding injuries and deaths. But they are not applied to every job site.

Austin-based VA Claims Insider says it has helped hundreds of thousands of clients. It has also touched off complaints and investigations.

Several of Texas’ largest cities sought to put in place mask requirements, which Gov. Greg Abbott overturned. The ruling is a legal win for Republicans in Austin their ongoing symbolic fight with cities, often run by Democrats.

This is the first analysis of live births since the law, which banned abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, went into effect in September 2021.

The impact of Texas’ near-total ban on abortion is coming into focus as patients and providers leave the state, legal challenges languish and the state’s social safety net braces for a baby boom.

Two days after delivering a stillborn baby, an Austin Public Health employee was notified she would not qualify for the city’s eight weeks of paid parental leave.

Pregnant moms on Medicaid will get health care coverage for a year, patients will get more detailed billing and nurses will get help with school loans. But efforts failed to gain steam for legalizing fentanyl test strips, increasing the pool of mental health professionals who accept Medicaid and expanding Medicaid benefits to more Texans.

The bill, recently signed by Gov. Greg Abbott and set to take effect Sept. 1, does not restrict pandemic rules by private entities.

Texas joins over a dozen other states restricting transgender minors from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapies. Opposing legal groups have vowed to sue to stop the new law from taking effect.

For one Round Rock teen, getting accepted to Harvard was her ticket out of a state that she says is hostile to trans youth. Now Texas will ensure young people like her no longer have access to gender-affirming care.

Now that Texas has a near-total ban on abortion, lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are trying to make sure colleges are serving students who are pregnant or have children.

A committee of House and Senate members agreed to a plan to extend Medicaid coverage for a year after childbirth — with a controversial anti-abortion amendment attached. The bill now goes to both chambers for a final vote.

The adolescent clinic treated eating disorders and menstrual complications. It also offered gender-affirming care — which is still legal for now but triggered an investigation by Attorney General Ken Paxton.

New moms will be able to keep their health insurance for a full year under a proposal the Senate passed Sunday. A last-minute anti-abortion amendment means the bill will go back to the House.

Priority bills that died include a 10-year minimum sentencing for gun-related crimes, a ban on “critical race theory” at public universities and LGBTQ-related legislation. While the bills may be dead, lawmakers have a limited time to attach their ideas to legislation that are still alive.

The Legislature recently passed a bill that would bar minors from receiving this medical care, but it has not yet been signed or gone into effect.

House Bill 63 is an attempt to reduce the amount of vindictive or false child abuse reports made to the state, but child advocates say it will deter valid reports, too.

If Senate Bill 14 becomes law, the ban would take effect on Sept. 1. This would also make Texas one of over a dozen states that restrict transition-related care for transgender minors.

Federal pandemic aid helped build public school mental health services in Texas. School officials now brace for the expiration of those funds next year. They’re urging lawmakers to create a dedicated funding stream for mental health assistance in schools.

Attorney General Ken Paxton previously announced an investigation into “potentially illegal” activity. Parents are scrambling to find transition-related care for their kids as the Legislature appears poised to ban it altogether.

Senate Bill 14 spurred protests that led to altercations with state police last week. A majority of Texas House members support the legislation, and the Senate has already passed a version of the bill.

Texas’ abortion laws look likely to remain about where they were at the beginning of the legislative session, as key deadlines pass without any movement on abortion-related bills.

Texas still lags nationally when it comes to mental health services and there have been seven mass shootings since Abbott took office in 2015.

The KSAT Community Town Hall can be viewed on KSAT.com at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17.

On the same day the Texas Legislature is set to debate Senate Bill 14, a proposed ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for kids, the attorney general files a request to examine documents related to the use of puberty blockers and counseling for trans youth.

Senate Bill 14 spurred protests that led to altercations with state police earlier this week. Bill supporters and opponents again showed up at the Capitol for an expected vote Friday.

The list of potential hurdles includes property tax cuts, school choice, the power grid, the state budget, plus diversity and tenure in higher education.

House Bill 3377 was authored by freshman state Rep. Venton Jones, the Legislature’s first openly HIV-positive member. It’s received overwhelming public and bipartisan support.

In the months leading up to their committee hearing, Woori Juntos community members trained on how to share their personal stories with legislators — in their own language.

The women are accused of helping their friend terminate her pregnancy, but they now claim her ex-husband, who brought the lawsuit, knew she had obtained the medication and did nothing to stop her.

Long an opponent of vaccine and mask mandates, the Republican said pharmaceutical companies may have misrepresented data. Pfizer strongly disagrees.

As Texas House members could soon vote to ban transition-related care for minors, many lives are in limbo, and trans kids like 16-year-old Randell are grappling with difficult decisions.

Texas wants to expand mental health services, but many mental health providers do not accept Medicaid because of its lower payment rate.

The legislation is in response to elected prosecutors in Texas’ large, left-leaning counties who have said they will not prosecute abortion cases.

Stuck in committee, the test-strip legislation has support from Gov. Greg Abbott and bipartisan lawmakers, who see it as a way to save lives.

In a key step on their quest to make state services more easily available to non-English speakers, advocates from Houston’s Woori Juntos community group testified before a panel of lawmakers.

A report from the Migration Policy Institute and the American Academy of Pediatrics details the barriers undocumented children face in the United States.