The Texas Medical Board on Friday adopted guidance for how doctors should interpret the state's new abortion laws, reducing paperwork requirements some saw as overly burdensome but declining to provide a list of cases in which an abortion would be legal. The board unanimously approved the new guidelines after making revisions in response to concerns raised by doctors, lawyers, and people who say they were denied medically necessary abortions. The changes included removing a that appeared to encourage doctors to transfer patients who might need an abortion.
Board Chair Dr. Sherif Zaafran acknowledged Friday that, even with these edits, this guidance doesn't address all the concerns the board heard during this process. "There are certain things that we can address, and there are certain things that we ultimately don't feel we have the authority to address," Zaafran said.
This long-awaited guidance is just that - guidance laying out how the Texas Medical Board will investigate allegations of illegal abortions. The medical board can take away the license of a doctor found to have performed an illegal abortion, and its findings could potentially be used by prosecutors or the attorney general's office in determining whether to seek criminal or civil penalties. "There is nothing that prevents a prosecutor in an individual county or an individual who wants to file a lawsuit to do so," Zaafran said.
"But my hope would be, and my strong recommendation would be, that any entities out th.
