Texas conservatives test how far they can extend abortion and gender-transition restrictions beyond state lines

Recent state and local legal maneuvers signal that Texas’ conservative movement could be wading into a complicated constitutional morass the country hasn’t dealt with since before the Civil War.

BY ELEANOR KLIBANOFF AND WILLIAM MELHADO
FEB. 9, 2024

In the months since Texas outlawed abortion and prohibited adolescents from receiving gender-transition care, women have flooded abortion clinics in nearby states and parents with transgender children have moved to places where puberty blockers and hormone therapy remain legal.

So now, Texas conservatives are testing the limits of their power beyond state lines.

Continued: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/09/texas-abortion-transgender-care-outside-state-borders/

Texas Medical Board remains silent on abortion laws, despite calls for more guidance

The Texas Supreme Court has asked the licensing board to offer doctors guidance on how to interpret the medical exception to the state’s abortion ban. Some doctors say that wouldn’t be enough reassurance.

BY ELEANOR KLIBANOFF
DEC. 21, 2023

Last week, in rejecting Kate Cox’s bid to terminate her nonviable pregnancy, the Texas Supreme Court called on the Texas Medical Board to offer doctors more guidance on how to interpret the state’s abortion laws.

“While the judiciary cannot compel executive branch entities to do their part, it is obvious that the legal process works more smoothly when they do,” the justices wrote.

Continued: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/21/texas-medical-board-abortion/

USA – Women’s stories may change the abortion narrative

Testimony about the horrors of abortion bans is more powerful than abstract conversations about life and choice.

By Mary Ziegler
August 3, 2023

In a courtroom in Austin, Texas, last month, five women put the state’s harsh abortion laws on trial.

Officially, their lawsuit aims to clarify the exceptions in the state’s complex scheme of abortion bans and restrictions. Since 2011, Texas has had an abortion law that defines a “medical emergency” to include any “life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that, as certified by a physician, places the woman in danger of death or a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function.” Somewhat different definitions apply in other Texas laws, including SB8, the law allowing anyone to sue a doctor or someone aiding them for at least $10,000 per abortion. The Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the women who brought the lawsuit, argues that because Texas’s exceptions are unclear or even contradictory, physicians are unsure when they can provide care and thus are likely to turn away even patients who qualify for a legal abortion because they have a life-threatening condition.

Continued: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/08/03/opinion/center-for-reproductive-rights-lawsuit-texas-women-abortion/

Our Abortion Stories: ‘I Want Greg Abbott to Look Me in the Eye and Tell Me I Deserve What Happened’

6/29/2023
by VAL DIEZ CANSECO

“It had been a normal day.”
When Terry went to her 15-week ultrasound appointment, she found out her fetus had not developed at all above the neck—there was no head. It was a one-in-a-million abnormality, the specialist told them.

“It was at that point I began to go numb. I kind of shut down. My specialist told me, ‘There’s only one thing that we can do to assure that you walk out of this healthy.’ He recommended that I terminate the pregnancy.”

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/06/29/abortion-stories-roe-v-wade-5/

29.06.2023

Commentary

abortion stories

Greg Abbott

near-total abortion ban

women's abortion stories

She was denied an abortion in Texas – then she almost died

June 17, 2023
BBC

A Texas law that bans all abortions - except in dire medical circumstances - is one of the strictest introduced since the right to the procedure was overturned. Critics say it is forcing many women, and their doctors, to choose between breaking the law and making the right decision for their health.

Amanda Zurawski and her husband Josh had recently bought their dream home. Located in one of the most sought-after areas of Austin, Texas, it had scenic views of a lake and a golf course. With their first child on the way, it was perfect for their growing family.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65935189

Texas – These abortion funds and practical support groups are bridging the gap for patients

Without these organizations, low-income and marginalized communities would not be able to access the abortion care they need.

By Rebekah Sager
June 15, 2023

Even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, people sought out abortion funds and practical support groups as stopgap measures to receive abortion care. Today, these groups are essential, particularly for low-income and marginalized pregnant people, covering everything from travel expenses to child care and even the procedure itself.

The Brigid Alliance
Five years ago, the Brigid Alliance, a practical support organization that provides assistance to people who are forced to travel outside of their home states for abortion care, opened its doors when clinics in Texas began to close with the passage of S.B. 8.

Continued: https://americanindependent.com/abortion-funds-texas-practical-support-groups/

How GOP efforts to restrict trans rights take a page from the antiabortion playbook

BY ARIT JOHN
JUNE 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — Bans on treatment. New laws threatening doctors with malpractice suits and criminal charges. Praise from lawmakers who say their legislation is meant to protect minors, even as the new policies infringe on the rights of adults.

As state legislatures wind down and the 2024 election cycle kicks off, the similarities between the fights for abortion access and transgender rights have come into stark focus. Republican lawmakers have introduced a record number of bills at the state level and in Congress that would restrict the rights of transgender people and the healthcare they receive.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-06-07/wave-of-anti-trans-laws-reminds-advocates-of-another-struggle-abortion-rights

Texas – El Paso woman defies state abortion bans

by Victoria Rossi
December 11, 2022

Ruth runs through a checklist as she packs. There’s ginger chews for nausea, chamomile tea for calm, two thick pads for bleeding. Inside seed packets of cantaloupes, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, she slips two smaller plastic baggies containing abortion pills, which she’s labeled by hand.

A few months earlier, Ruth would feel her heart pound as she assembled the kits, a rush of adrenaline as she drove to mail them, wondering if she’d get stopped – and if stopped, arrested. Now, she said, “The fear is gone. And I’m just at righteous indignation.”

Continued: https://elpasomatters.org/2022/12/11/el-paso-texas-woman-distributing-abortion-pills-defies-bans/

How Texas’ abortion laws turned a heartbreaking fetal diagnosis into a cross-country journey

“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.”

BY ELEANOR KLIBANOFF
SEPT. 20, 2022

The protesters outside the Seattle abortion clinic waved pictures of bloody fetuses, shouting that she was a “baby killer” and begging her to choose life.
Lauren Hall, 27, fought the urge to scream back and tell them just how badly she wished life was a choice she could have made.

Continued: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/20/texas-abortion-ban-complicated-pregnancy/

The inside story of how John Roberts failed to save abortion rights

Joan Biskupic, CNN legal analyst & Supreme Court biographer
Tue July 26, 2022

Chief Justice John Roberts privately lobbied fellow conservatives to save the constitutional right to abortion down to the bitter end, but May's unprecedented leak of a draft opinion reversing Roe v. Wade made the effort all but impossible.

It appears unlikely that Roberts' best prospect -- Justice Brett Kavanaugh -- was ever close to switching his earlier vote, despite Roberts' attempts that continued through the final weeks of the session.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/politics/supreme-court-john-roberts-abortion-dobbs/index.html