REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

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

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.

More than a quarter of women of childbearing age are uninsured in Texas, the highest rate in the nation, and the state has chosen to cap Medicaid benefits for new moms earlier than other states.

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.

A group of young women have teamed up with a prestigious Houston law firm to get the state to stop charging sales tax on menstrual products, arguing they qualify as “wound care dressings.”

The full and often unchecked power of the prosecutor was on display when a South Texas woman was charged with murder for a self-induced abortion.

The Rio Grande Valley, often seen as a reliable vote against abortion, has a long history of advocacy to increase access to the procedure.

After Texas passed a ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, more Texans went to Oklahoma for the procedure than to any other state. Now, in a surprise move, the Oklahoma Legislature is cutting off that option.

Cain has accused the nonprofits of being “criminal organizations” and has ordered them to stop funding abortions in Texas. Lawyers representing the funds are demanding a retraction.

Paxton tweeted Friday that investigations into parents of transgender children would continue as a result of his appeal. But the state’s child welfare agency won’t confirm the status of the investigations.

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.

The decision, hailed by abortion opponents as a victory, is another indication of how legal protections for abortion have been gutted in Texas.

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.

Texas, the birthplace of Roe v. Wade, has been at the forefront of major battles over abortion access ever since. Friday’s ruling ensures the state remains on the frontlines.

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

Six justices — including two who voted against blocking Senate Bill 8 when it first went into effect — voiced concern that other states could replicate the controversial law’s enforcement mechanism.

The Supreme Court had previously declined to block the law but didn't rule on its constitutionality.