(The Center Square) – Pregnant women in Texas have access to medical procedures under the exception clause of Texas’ abortion ban, the Texas’ Human Life Protection Act, according to state data.
Although some Republicans have said they’re open to amending a law Gov. Greg Abbott signed in 2021, he’s said that it’s working as intended and there’s no need to amend it.
“There have been hundreds of abortions that have been provided under this law, so there are plenty of doctors and plenty of mothers that have been able to get an abortion that saved their lives and protect their health and safety,” Abbott told the Houston Chronicle. “So, I know as the law as it currently exists can work if it is properly applied.”
According to the latest Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Induced Termination of Pregnancy report, Texas doctors performed 145 procedures under the law’s medical necessity exception to save the mother’s life, from January 2022 through October 2024. No doctors who performed them were prosecuted, sued or sanctioned.
Elective abortions performed in 2022 up until the Dobs ruling in July 2022 totaled 17,179, according to the data.
Zero elective abortions were reported in Texas from August 2022 through October 2024, according to the data.
If an average of 2,852 abortions performed per month in the first six months of 2022 were to have continued, an estimated 79,856 elective abortions would have been reported by October 2024, based on the data. Meaning, Texas abortion bans reduced elective abortion by nearly 80,000 in a roughly two-year time span.
Abortion rights activists argued pregnant women would die and babies with alleged serious diseases would be born to suffer if they didn’t have access to abortion. They also claimed the law prohibited abortions in Texas in cases of medical emergencies. The claims were verifiably false, The Center Square reported.
Abbott signed several bills into law ahead of Roe’s reversal.
One was Texas’ Human Life Protection Act, which prohibits abortions from being performed in Texas. It includes an exception in the case of “a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced.”
Pro-abortion activists sued, arguing the law was unconstitutional. Last year, the Texas Supreme Court, in a final decision, ruled it is constitutional and clear.
The Texas Medical Board also issued a rule on the exception clause. Procedures to save the life of the mother or unborn child, to remove the body of an unborn child that died from a spontaneous abortion, or to remove an ectopic pregnancy are not considered abortions under the law.
Abbott also signed into law the Heartbeat Act, which passed the legislature with bipartisan support. Filed by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, it bans abortions from being performed in Texas as soon as a heartbeat of the preborn baby is detected, with limited exceptions. It created a second-degree felony offense for a person who knowingly performs, induces, or attempts an abortion. The offense is enhanced to a first-degree felony if an unborn child dies from an abortion. Anyone who violates the law performing an abortion can also be subject to a minimum civil penalty of $100,000 for each violation, with exceptions.
While outlawing elective abortions, Abbott and the Texas legislature advanced significant funding to help pregnant mothers and their families.
Abbott launched FamilyResources.texas.gov, which includes all available free or low-cost services available to pregnant mothers. He also signed bills into law to extend Medicaid health-care coverage to 12 months post-partum, appropriated over $447 million for women’s health programs, and invested over $140 million in the Thriving Texas Families program in the last legislative cycle.
The current legislative cycle continues funding these programs. Current state budget proposals include a $165 million allocation to the Thriving Texas Families program and $400 million to women’s health services.
According to state data, Medicaid covers the cost of more than half of all births in Texas and funds 12 months of postpartum care.
