WOMEN'S HEALTH

Abbott lauded the efforts of the anti-abortion movement after a landmark year for opponents of the procedure.

While Democrats and the far-right edge of the Republican Party remain focused on abortion, leaders in both chambers have not yet spent much time discussing the issue this session.

Women in Deep East Texas drive over an hour to give birth after the last obstetrics unit in the area closed in 2019. But if closing the unit was hard, reopening it is proving nearly impossible.

The Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee report, delayed by more than three months, estimates that up to 90% of the deaths may have been preventable. Severe complications from pregnancy and childbirth also increased significantly.

Whole Woman’s Health, which owned the building for nearly two decades, said they were “duped” after the doctors who bought the building sold it to the McAllen Pregnancy Center.

Several new studies show that not everyone denied access to abortions in Texas can travel out of state, but more people than ever before are seeking ways to self-manage abortions with medication at home.

Several abortion funds have sued anti-abortion activist Mark Lee Dickson, who called them “criminal organizations,” for defamation.

Polling shows that a majority of voters in Texas oppose the state’s near-total ban on abortion, but they ranked the topic ninth on a list of most important issues facing the country.

A federal judge who previously quashed the subpoena ruled that the attorney general must take the witness stand in a lawsuit from abortion funds.

U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, hopes the pilot program will help female veterans get better access to cancer care.

Ana Marie Cox moderates a conversation about women’s health, women’s rights and an uncertain future with former state Sen. Wendy Davis, state Rep. Donna Howard and Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson.

The former president of Planned Parenthood on the end of Roe v. Wade and the fight for gender equity.

“It was just a matter of time before the baby died, or maybe I’d have to go through the trauma of carrying to term knowing I wasn’t bringing a baby home,” said 27-year-old Lauren Hall. “I couldn’t do that.”

Lawmakers say they need the latest pregnancy-related death data to more precisely address the problem during the legislative session. But delays means they won’t see it until after the session ends.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling could threaten access to sexual and reproductive health care for more than 150 million working Americans on employer-sponsored health care plans. The ruling will likely be appealed.

In August, movers arrived at Alamo Women’s Reproductive Services to help the abortion clinic pack up for a move out of state.

En algunos estados de México, donde el aborto todavía no es legal, redes de acompañantes proveen medicamento y apoyo emocional para que las personas puedan realizar abortos en casa. Debido a que el acceso al aborto en Texas es cada vez más limitado, estas redes están comenzando a formarse en Estados Unidos.

In parts of Mexico where abortion has not been legalized, women rely on volunteer networks to provide medication and emotional support for at-home abortions. As access to abortion is shut down in Texas, similar networks are being built in the U.S.

Texas, the largest state to restrict abortions, now has three significant bans on the books, setting up a potential legal minefield.

The suit comes two days before the state’s newest abortion ban, triggered by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, goes into effect.

Advocates have previously called for repealing the sales tax on products like tampons, sanitary pads and pantyliners. Menstrual products are already tax-free in 24 states.

The restriction, which was revived after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, was put in place amid concerns about declining white birth rates and as the medical profession formalized.

Experts on adoption and abortion say lawmakers must work to provide financial and mental health support to birth parents, adoptive parents and adoptees in order to make the adoption process a better option for those with unwanted pregnancies.

The school district joins a national movement to provide equal access to period supplies.

HHSC said it was initially told the plan was “not approvable.” Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a statement Friday saying Texas’ plan to extend coverage to six months was not rejected but still under review.

The changing legal landscape is raising questions for public colleges about how to talk to students about reproductive health care options and creating hesitancy among students about whether they can trust their universities’ health centers.

The request for a public health emergency declaration was part of a set of recommendations to allow abortion access to Texans who might not be able to travel out of state.

Medical professionals across the state have expressed confusion over what care they can provide amid Texas’ abortion ban, leading to some patients allegedly receiving delayed care or being turned away.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argues the Biden administration is violating the state’s “sovereign interest” by reassuring the nation’s doctors they can perform abortions in medical emergencies.

Coffee was just 30 when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with her argument that the constitutional right to privacy extended to abortion: “I thought, OK, well this is done now. I was thinking the [abortion] question was settled for as long as the country lasted.”

About 40% of women who get abortions in the U.S. are Black, and advocates say abortion bans like Texas’ will increase their health and financial risks.

Health workers caring for pregnant women now face a bewildering array of legal questions.

It’s unclear whether Texas’ tangled web of abortion laws would make it a crime to pay for a Texan to leave the state to get an abortion, but the threat has compelled the funds to cease services.

District attorneys and local leaders in five counties have promised not to pursue criminal charges related to the state’s new abortion laws. But civil and administrative fines could be financially devastating or cost health care providers their licenses.

Advocates say abortion has often been the safest option for many experiencing intimate partner violence.

The party planks specify what the Texas GOP believes students should and should not be taught in the classroom about gender and sex, signaling further shifts to the right. Critics say such policies would be harmful and discriminatory.

Abortion clinics, and the patients they serve, have always had to adapt to changing laws and tightening restrictions. But the Supreme Court seems poised to deliver the fatal blow they’ve been dodging for decades.

Women’s health care providers are holding back when counseling pregnant patients about treatment options, doctors report pharmacists are hesitant to distribute some prescriptions, and OB-GYN training is diminishing for Texas medical school students.

In this video, see what abortion rights supporters in Texas say about the impact of a likely U.S. Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Providers, advocates and doctors spent much of the day Tuesday reassuring people that the procedure remains legal until the high court issues an official opinion overturning it.

Pregnant Texans have found ways to access abortion despite the restrictions, while clinics have pivoted their operations to focus on out-of-state care.

The U.S. Supreme Court left abortion providers only the narrowest avenue to challenge the ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Friday’s Texas Supreme Court ruling has effectively ended that federal legal challenge.

The COVID vaccine is proven safe during all stages of pregnancy, and pregnant patients are at an increased risk of getting seriously ill if they contract the virus. Still, many pregnant women hesitate.

Only 40% of Texas’ rural hospitals offer labor and delivery services, forcing some patients to drive hundreds of miles to give birth. With nurses in short supply, more hospitals are considering cutting those services entirely.

Weddington was just 26 when she argued the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in her first appearance before the high court.

Beginning today, a new law restricts abortion-inducing medication, the most common abortion method in Texas.

But some Texas nonprofit groups dedicated to paying for the medical costs of abortion say they have more money than patients to give it to — a likely symptom of fewer people being able to access the procedure because of the new law.

For two months, providers have had to work in a sort of limbo as they wait to see if the new law passes the Supreme Court's review.

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning will hold a hearing on Texas’ ban on most abortions and how it has impacted families.

In South Texas, poverty and immigration status compound the obstacles facing pregnant people seeking abortions.