Texas lawmakers from both parties have passed a bill that provides greater clarity about how Texas’s abortion laws allow immediate treatment for a life-threatening condition known as previable premature rupture of membranes (PPROM). The bill, H.B. 3058, was unanimously passed by the Texas Senate and agreed to by a 128-12 vote in the House before being signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The bill amends the penal code to make it clear that a physician or healthcare provider is justified in exercising reasonable medical judgment in treating PPROM or ectopic pregnancies anywhere in the body. Texas law already explicitly excluded treatment of ectopic pregnancies from the definition of abortion. The bill also states that the state medical board may not take disciplinary action against a physician in such cases and that treating such cases is an affirmative defense in any civil lawsuit.
The bill aims to remove any doubt and remove any excuse for not giving the care that expectant mothers need in these cases. Texas state senator Bryan Hughes, a Republican and sponsor of the bill, said that “Democrats and Republicans recognize that women were being harmed by this interpretation of the law.” Hughes added that the associations approved the language in the bill during the process of getting it negotiated and passed, and that he believed the associations were either already educating their members about the measure or had plans to do so.
Hughes is hopeful that the new measure will finally get those Texas hospital administrators and lawyers who have either misinterpreted the law or have been unreasonably afraid of it to reverse course. He’s also hopeful that the Texas Medical Board, an official state agency, will provide formal guidance to hospitals about what the law means. The agency has so far not provided guidance, and a spokesman told National Review on Friday it couldn’t comment due to pending litigation.
Fears stoked by the media over Texas’s six-week abortion limit, enforced only via civil lawsuits, have been overblown: In nearly two years since the law took effect, the only doctor known to have been sued was one who wrote a Washington Post op-ed in which he deliberately attempted to create a legal challenge by suggesting that he performed an illegal elective abortion. In the year since Texas’s criminal abortion law has been in effect, no medical provider has been prosecuted.
Pro-life groups have been making the case before incidents occurred that Texas law allows immediate delivery in cases of PPROM, even though some mothers will choose expectant management. Pro-lifers have been urging those in positions of authority to ensure hospitals properly understand the law. As National Review recently editorialized, providing such clarifying guidance is “perhaps the single most important thing pro-life officials can do right now.”
