Texas senate unanimously approves changes to clarify abortion ban's medical exceptions
The unanimous passage of the bill in the GOP-controlled Senate — by a 31-0 vote — marked a rare moment of bipartisanship on an issue that for years has roiled the state Capitol as Texas Republicans have defended one of the nation's most restrictive abortion bans and launched criminal investigations into alleged violations.
Key changes: Clarifying medical exceptions for life-threatening conditions
Under Senate-passed changes, Texas' ban would specify that doctors are allowed to perform an abortion if a patient is experiencing a "life-threatening" condition capable of causing death, and "not necessarily one actively injuring the patient." The bill would also require doctors to receive training on the revised law.
"Since 2021, abortions in Texas have essentially ceased," Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement Tuesday. "As a Christian and a conservative, I celebrate that tens of thousands of tiny Texans have been saved and that Texas has led the way in protecting life nationwide. SB 31, which is only designed to provide legal clarity for doctors in rare cases when a mother's life is threatened, is supported by Texas Right to Life, Texas Alliance for Life, and other life groups."
If approved by the state House and signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, the revisions would mark the first time Texas lawmakers have modified language in the near-total abortion ban since it took effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
"We know there are cases where moms who should have been treated were denied treatment," Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes said on the floor of the chamber before the vote, urging lawmakers to adopt changes that make the law "crystal clear."
No exceptions for rape or incest
Texas' ban would still have no exception in cases of rape or incest and the law would not spell out specific medical exceptions, which Senate Democrats noted even as they said they would support it and predicted it would save lives.
"I will vote for it, but this policy is no less cruel for being made clear," Democratic state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt said.
Republican lawmakers in Kentucky passed a similar bill in March that added specific medical exceptions to the state's ban, which also prohibits all abortions except in medical emergencies. Last year, South Dakota released an instructional video for doctors to clarify the state's abortion restrictions.
The Texas bill comes following years of the state's abortion ban successfully navigating court challenges and scrutiny from doctors and abortion rights advocates. The advocates say the state's laws are too vague when defining what is considered a "life-threatening condition."
Hughes, who is one of the architects of the state's stringent abortion ban, said he introduced the bill to "remove any doubt" that doctors can perform an abortion when the mother's life is at risk.
Texas law currently prohibits all abortions, including in cases of rape or incest, except in instances to save the life of the mother. Physicians can face up to 99 years in prison and be fined up to $100,000 if they perform an illegal abortion.
Scrutiny and challenges remain
Several women challenged existing medical exceptions under Texas law as too narrow. They called the new legislation a small step in the right direction and would allow doctors to act more urgently. Kaitlyn Kash, who was denied an abortion after experiencing serious pregnancy complications, said at a news conference this month that she was "cautiously optimistic" about the bill.
The Texas Supreme Court in 2024 said that the state's abortion laws were not too vague, ruling against several women who were denied an abortion after experiencing serious pregnancy complications. The Texas Medical Board also declined to list specific medical exceptions allowed under the law.
In March, Texas filed criminal charges against a Houston midwife for allegedly providing illegal abortions, and the state is also suing a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a Texas woman.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas' Republican-controlled House approves new maps to create more winnable GOP congressional seats
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House on Wednesday approved redrawn congressional maps that would give Republicans a bigger edge in 2026, muscling through a partisan gerrymander that launched weeks of protests by Democrats and a widening national battle over redistricting. The approval came at the urging of President Donald Trump, who pushed for the extraordinary mid-decade revision of congressional maps to give his party a better chance at holding onto the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. The maps need to be approved by the GOP-controlled state Senate and signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott before they become official. But the Texas House vote had presented the best chance for Democrats to derail the redraw. Democratic legislators delayed the vote by two weeks by fleeing Texas earlier this month in protest, and they were assigned round-the-clock police monitoring upon their return to ensure they attended Wednesday's session. The approval of the Texas maps on an 88-52 party-line vote is likely to prompt California's Democratic-controlled state Legislature this week to approve of a new House map creating five new Democratic-leaning districts. But the California map would require voter approval in November. Democrats have also vowed to challenge the new Texas map in court and complained that Republicans made the political power move before passing legislation responding to deadly floods that swept the state last month. Texas maps openly made to help GOP Texas Republicans openly said they were acting in their party's interest. State Rep. Todd Hunter, who wrote the legislation formally creating the new map, noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed politicians to redraw districts for nakedly partisan purposes. 'The underlying goal of this plan is straight forward: improve Republican political performance,' Hunter, a Republican, said on the floor. After nearly eight hours of debate, Hunter took the floor again to sum up the entire dispute as nothing more than a partisan fight. 'What's the difference, to the whole world listening? Republicans like it, and Democrats do not.' Democrats said the disagreement was about more than partisanship. 'In a democracy, people choose their representatives,' State Rep. Chris Turner said. 'This bill flips that on its head and lets politicians in Washington, D.C., choose their voters.' State Rep. John H. Bucy blamed the president. 'This is Donald Trump's map,' Bucy said. 'It clearly and deliberately manufactures five more Republican seats in Congress because Trump himself knows that the voters are rejecting his agenda.' Redistricting becomes tool nationwide in battle for US House The Republican power play has already triggered a national tit-for-tat battle as Democratic state lawmakers prepared to gather in California on Thursday to revise that state's map to create five new Democratic seats. 'This is a new Democratic Party, this is a new day, this is new energy out there all across this country,' California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said on a call with reporters on Wednesday. 'And we're going to fight fire with fire.' A new California map would need to be approved by voters in a special election in November because that state normally operates with a nonpartisan commission drawing the map to avoid the very sort of political brawl that is playing out. Newsom himself backed the 2008 ballot measure to create that process, as did former President Barack Obama. But in a sign of Democrats' stiffening resolve, Obama Tuesday night backed Newsom's bid to redraw the California map, saying it was a necessary step to stave off the GOP's Texas move. 'I think that approach is a smart, measured approach,' Obama said during a fundraiser for the Democratic Party's main redistricting arm. The incumbent president's party usually loses seats in the midterm election, and the GOP currently controls the House of Representatives by a mere three votes. Trump is going beyond Texas in his push to remake the map. He's pushed Republican leaders in conservative states like Indiana and Missouri to also try to create new Republican seats. Ohio Republicans were already revising their map before Texas moved. Democrats, meanwhile, are mulling reopening Maryland's and New York's maps as well. However, more Democratic-run states have commission systems like California's or other redistricting limits than Republican ones do, leaving the GOP with a freer hand to swiftly redraw maps. New York, for example, can't draw new maps until 2028, and even then, only with voter approval. Texas Democrats decry the new maps In Texas, there was little that outnumbered Democrats could do other than fume and threaten a lawsuit to block the map. Because the Supreme Court has blessed purely partisan gerrymandering, the only way opponents can stop the new Texas map would be by arguing it violates the Voting Rights Act requirement to keep minority communities together so they can select representatives of their choice. Democrats noted that, in every decade since the 1970s, courts have found that Texas' legislature did violate the Voting Rights Act in redistricting, and that civil rights groups had an active lawsuit making similar allegations against the 2021 map that Republicans drew up. Republicans contend the new map creates more new majority-minority seats than the previous one. Democrats and some civil rights groups have countered that the GOP does that through mainly a numbers game that leads to halving the number of the state's House seats that will be represented by a Black representative. State Rep. Ron Reynolds noted the country just marked the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act's passage and warned GOP members about how they'd be remembered if they voted for what he called 'this racial gerrymander.' 'Just like the people who were on the wrong side of history in 1965, history will be looking at the people who made the decisions in the body this day,' Reynolds, a Democrat, said. Republicans hit back at criticism Republicans spent far less time talking on Wednesday, content to let their numbers do the talking in the lopsided vote. As the day dragged on, a handful hit back against Democratic complaints. 'You call my voters racist, you call my party racist and yet we're expected to follow the rules,' said State Rep. Katrina Pierson, a former Trump spokesperson. 'There are Black and Hispanic and Asian Republicans in this chamber who were elected just like you.' House Republicans' frustration at the Democrats' flight and ability to delay the vote was palpable. The GOP used a parliamentary maneuver to take a second and final vote on the map so it wouldn't have to reconvene for one more vote after Senate approval. House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced as debate started that doors to the chamber were locked and any member leaving was required to have a permission slip. The doors were only unlocked after final passage more than eight hours later. One Democrat who refused the 24-hour police monitoring, State Rep. Nicole Collier, had been confined to the House floor since Monday night. Some Democratic state lawmakers joined Collier Tuesday night for what Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez dubbed 'a sleepover for democracy.' Republicans issued civil arrest warrants to bring the Democrats back after they left the state Aug. 3, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott asked the state Supreme Court to oust several Democrats from office. The lawmakers also face a fine of $500 for every day they were absent.
NBC News
13 minutes ago
- NBC News
'A responsible approach': Obama backs California's response to Texas redistricting
Former President Barack Obama is backing California's plan to counter mid-decade redistricting efforts by Republicans in Texas. At a fundraising event Tuesday night for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, Obama said the party needs to "respond effectively" to Republican attempts to gerrymander. 'I've had to wrestle with my preference, which would be that we don't have political gerrymandering, but what I also know is that if we don't respond effectively then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy,' Obama said at the event that included former Attorney General Eric Holder and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. His remarks came a day before Republicans in the Texas House passed a bill to redraw congressional lines that would add five more GOP seats in Congress after next year's midterm elections. California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week called on state lawmakers to pass a ballot measure to redraw congressional lines in response to new redistricting plans in Republican-led states like Texas. While not prohibited, it is uncommon for states to put forward maps in between decennial census counts. Obama on Tuesday cited Newsom's plan, saying he has "tremendous respect" for the proposal which would allow redistricting that favors Democrats. 'Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House that is effectively saying: Gerrymander for partisan purposes so we can maintain the House despite our unpopular policies,' Obama said. 'So I believe that Gov. Newsom's approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We're not going to try to completely maximize it. We're only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers,' he added. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee echoed Obama's support in a social media post Wednesday night, calling Newsom's plan "a fair and responsible response to Trump's unprecedented power grab."
The Hill
42 minutes ago
- The Hill
GOP senator: US stake in Intel would be ‘step toward socialism'
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a libertarian-minded Republican, criticized the Trump administration's push to acquire a stake in U.S. chipmaker Intel, suggesting the move would be a 'step toward socialism.' 'If socialism is government owning the means of production, wouldn't the government owning part of Intel be a step toward socialism?' Paul said on Wednesday in a post on the social platform X. 'Terrible idea,' he added, linking to a news story about the latest effort. The Trump administration is in talks to secure a 10 percent stake in the company, which would make the U.S. government one of Intel's largest shareholders. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday that the money for the stake would come from previously allocated Biden-era funding. Media reports have suggested that the stake would be in exchange for converting grants pledged to Intel under the CHIPS and Science Act. 'The president figures out that we should get, America should get the benefit of the bargain,' Lutnick told CNBC's 'Squawk Box.' 'I mean, that is exactly Donald Trump's perspective, which is, why are we giving a company worth $100 billion this kind of money?' he continued. 'What is in it for the American taxpayer? And the answer Donald Trump has is we should get an equity stake for our money.' Paul has long pushed for the federal government to play a smaller role in the daily lives of Americans and the U.S. economy. He voted against Trump's legacy-defining policy bill, citing concerns about increased spending and the national debt.
