Texas lawmakers from both sides of the aisle came together during a contentious legislative session to pass a bill clarifying abortion laws in the state. The bill, which passed unanimously in the Texas senate and with a 128-12 vote in the house, does not change existing laws but provides greater clarity on how Texas’s abortion laws allow immediate treatment for a life-threatening condition known as previable premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), which occurs when an expectant mother’s water breaks before viability. Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill into law on Wednesday.
Pro-life and pro-abortion groups have been emphasizing for a year that Texas’s abortion laws do not require medical providers to wait until a threat to the life of the mother becomes imminent. A lawsuit filed by the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights against the state acknowledged that the “exception does not require that any of the risks to the pregnant person be imminent” and that “physicians are over-complying with the laws to the detriment of their patients’ lives.” Some Texas hospitals have dangerously delayed care in cases of PPROM.
Senator Bryan Hughes, a Republican sponsor of the bill, said that “Democrats and Republicans recognize that women were being harmed by this interpretation of the law.” He added that “Texas law is already clear, but because some doctors and hospitals were not following the law, we wanted to remove any doubt and remove any excuse for not giving the care that the moms need in these cases.” Hughes attended Abbott’s signing of the bill, along with pro-life groups and the Texas Medical Association and Texas Hospital Association, who approved the language in the bill.
The bill, H.B. 3058, amends the penal code to say that a “physician or health care provider is justified in exercising reasonable medical judgment” in cases of treating PPROM or ectopic pregnancies anywhere in the body. H.B. 3058 also says 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.
Senator Hughes is hopeful that the new measure will reverse the course of Texas hospital administrators and lawyers who have either misinterpreted the law or have been unreasonably afraid of it. He also hopes that the Texas Medical Board will provide formal guidance to hospitals about what the law means. The agency has not provided guidance yet, citing pending litigation. Pro-life groups have been urging those in positions of authority to ensure hospitals properly understand the law, and providing clarifying guidance is “perhaps the single most important thing pro-life officials can do right now,” according to a recent editorial in National Review.
