Staff Writers
AUSTIN — Clarifying the state’s abortion ban to save mothers’ lives is the “most important” legislation filed by one North Texas lawmaker, he said of his 24-year career.
Texas must spell out the circumstances under which doctors can provide abortions, Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, said Tuesday at a press event alongside religious leaders inside the Capitol.
Medical professionals and advocates have repeatedly said language in the state’s current abortion ban is unclear, making doctors uncertain when they’re legally allowed to provide medically necessary abortion care.
“Too many women have suffered. Too many have died,” Geren said. “If one has died it’s too many, and more have. I have friends whose wives can no longer conceive because of the problems they went through with their first pregnancy and the delay that doctors face in addressing the problems.”
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Geren and Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, filed similar versions of what’s known as the Life of the Mother Act on Friday. The bills have garnered an unusual amount of agreement and support for such a hotly contested issue.
Geren joined female faith leaders Tuesday from across the state who want the law clarified.
Pastor Danielle Ayers of Justice at Friendship-West in Dallas said “pregnancy and motherhood are sacred.” The bills are a “step in the right direction to restore full body autonomy to women because our bodies belong to us and not anyone else,” Ayers said.
Hughes and Geren have been strong anti-abortion voices in the Legislature. Hughes is considered a leader in the state’s anti-abortion legislation, in part because he authored the state’s six-week abortion ban in 2021, known as the Texas Heartbeat Act.
The clarification proposal “is the most important bill that I’ve ever carried,” Geren said, vowing to get it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. The Tarrant County lawmaker said he told Abbott: “If I ever make you mad this session and you have to veto something, veto everything else. But you leave this one alone.”
The investigative outlet ProPublica reported on three occasions when pregnant Texans died after the state’s ban went into effect. Those deaths were preventable, medical experts said.
Texas’ near-total abortion ban includes an exception for patients with “a life-threatening physical condition.” The person performing the procedure must provide “the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive,” according to state law.
But what meets that threshold is vague and confusing, doctors say.
Illegally performing an abortion is a second-degree felony — punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. It rises to a first-degree felony, with up to life in prison and a $10,000 fine, if an unborn child dies as a result. Violators also may face a civil penalty of at least $100,000.
The clarifying bills would allow abortions if the mother “has a physical condition” from pregnancy that puts her “at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced.”
A doctor would not have to “delay, alter or withhold medical treatment” if doing so puts the mother at greater risk of death or major impairment, according to the bills.
For example, medical professionals could act in cases of ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages under the proposals.
Doctors would no longer have to determine the post-fertilization age of the unborn child first or terminate the pregnancy in a manner that “provides the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive” during a medical emergency, according to the bills. The legislation would remove a prohibition on abortions past 20 weeks in those cases.
When exceptions do not apply, the Life of the Mother Act lays out activities that would not be considered aiding or abetting. Physicians face civil liability claims for aiding and abetting an illegal abortion under state law. The carveouts would allow communication and services among health care providers, physicians and patients as they discuss each case.
Free training — for attorneys through the State Bar of Texas and for physicians through the Texas Medical Board — would be required under the bills to encourage better understanding of the state’s abortion law and exceptions.
Leaders of the House and Senate expressed support for clarifying abortion exceptions in January.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said then that his chamber would take action “given the concerns raised by physicians and mothers across this state.”
“We already have members working on this issue, and the House will do our part to clarify the protections owed to those most vulnerable,” Burrows said.
Dr. Ezequiel Silva III, a radiologist and the chair of the Texas Medical Association’s legislation council, said clarifying the law is a positive step that will give “physicians comfort and greater confidence in taking care of these patients to the best of their ability.”
Joe Pojman, the founder and executive director of the anti-abortion advocacy organization Texas Alliance for Life, said his organization “strongly” supports the proposals. His organization is focused on providing more education about the abortion ban for attorneys and doctors, which the bill would do.
Pojman said the exceptions to the abortion ban don’t need to be rewritten, but that the bills’ clarification language spells out what is allowed without expanding abortion access.
Clarification “wasn’t our principal goal, but we do support that because it standardizes the definitions of medical exceptions,” Pojman said.
Nolan covers Texas politics. Before relocating to Austin in June 2024, he spent nearly a decade in Washington, D.C., reporting on national politics, including the White House, Congress and presidential campaigns. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University.
Emily Brindley reports on health in North Texas and across the state. She was previously an investigative reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Before moving to Texas in 2021, she covered the coronavirus pandemic at the Hartford Courant in Connecticut.
