AUSTIN, Texas — Across the 18 states that have banned or tightly restricted abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, questions have persisted over when doctors can perform abortions in medical emergencies.
State lawmakers out of Texas say a newly passed law called the Life of the Mother Act should clarify for doctors in the state where to draw the line. Reproductive rights advocates and medical groups are watching to see if it saves lives.
In Texas, abortion is only permitted when a woman's life or one of her major bodily functions is at risk, but doctors have said it's unclear what qualifies under such emergency medical exceptions. The penalties are steep if they get it wrong: In Texas, doctors face a sentence of up to 99 years in prison, fines and the loss of their medical license.
Dr. Emily Briggs is a family physician in Central Texas who says she fields a lot of questions about the ban from young doctors who train at her practice.
"We have physicians in training — medical students and residents — who are choosing not to go through their training in Texas for a multitude of reasons," she says.
Many new doctors are worried they can't get a full education in Texas because they can't train in abortion care under the ban, Briggs says. Some are concerned about the impact of the ban on their own health as they consider starting families. That's part of why Briggs supported the new law in Texas.
"I think this is a great step in the right direction," she...
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