DALLAS– A Texas medical panel on Friday rejected calls to list specific exceptions to one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the U.S., which doctors say is dangerously unclear and has forced women with serious pregnancy complications to leave the state.
The head of the Texas Medical Board also said broader issues surrounding the law — such as the lack of exceptions in cases of rape or incest — are beyond the purview of the 16-member panel, 12 of whom are men. Only one board member is an obstetrician and gynaecologist.
“There’s not much we can do,” said Dr. Sherif Zaafran, chairman of the board.
The public meeting sparked new discouragement and anger among opponents who have spent nearly two years urging Texas courts and lawmakers to clarify exceptions to the state ban. In December, Kate Cox, a Dallas mother of two, sued the state for abortion rights after her fetus developed a fatal condition and she went to the emergency room several times.
Cox ultimately left the state for an abortion before the Texas Supreme Court, whose nine justices are all elected Republicans, ruled that she had not shown her life was in danger. However, the court called on the state medical board to provide more guidance.
Zaafran said that while the board has some discretion in helping define what the law says, they have no discretion in rewriting it, which would be up to the Legislature. He and other members of the board were appointed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who signed the ban into law in 2021.
The administration’s proposed guidelines on exceptions to the Texas ban on abortion from the moment of conception, issued Friday, advise doctors to carefully document their decision-making when determining whether continuing a woman’s pregnancy would endanger her life or harm an important bodily function. give few details.
While anti-abortion advocates praised the language leaving the question of whether to perform an abortion up to doctors’ “reasonable medical judgment,” some doctors, lawyers and women who have left the state for abortions said more must be done to perform an abortion. protect doctors from prosecution for performing abortions under the medical exemptions.
“You have people who are terrified,” said Steve Bresnen, an attorney who asked the board for advice. “They’re facing death and they’re terrified and we think you can do more than it seems like your rule would suffice. In that sense we are disappointed.”
“Even if you don’t feel like you can do anything about exposure to criminals, that’s not right,” he said.
A doctor convicted of performing an illegal abortion in Texas could face up to 99 years in prison, a $100,000 fine and the loss of his medical license.
Zaafran said the board decided not to list specific medical conditions that could apply because there would be too much nuance depending on each case.
“You can have two circumstances, but two very different circumstances, including where it may have happened. Was it an area where you couldn’t transfer the mother to an area with a higher level of care? he said. Advances in medicine can also change the effect of certain conditions, he added.
Rebecca Weaver, legislative director of Texas Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, expressed satisfaction that the guidelines “do not weaken the power of our laws” and that the administration chose “not to to sum it up, but to postpone it.” in reasonable medical judgment.”
“Texas’ pro-life laws clearly allow doctors to intervene when a pregnant woman’s life or major bodily functions are at risk because of her pregnancy,” she said.
A period will now open for the public to comment on the board’s proposed guidelines.
After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down abortion rights in June 2022, vaguely worded bans in some Republican-controlled states have caused confusion over how to apply exceptions.