The "Rally for Life" march at the Texas State Capitol in Austin in January. Even groups that support abortion are asking for more clarity on exceptions to the state's abortion bans. Suzanne Cordiero/AFP via Getty Images hide caption The stakes are high for doctors in Texas when it comes to abortion.
With three overlapping laws , Texas bans nearly all abortions and has some of the strictest penalties for doctors in the country, including thousands of dollars in fines, the loss of a medical license and even life in prison. That’s the backdrop for a process happening now to give doctors more clarity about when abortions can be performed and considered in compliance with the narrow medical exception in Texas abortion law. The state’s Supreme Court asked – and an official petition required – the Texas Medical Board to clarify how doctors should interpret the exception, which says abortion is allowed to save a woman’s life or “major bodily function.
” The board has drafted those clarifying rules but at a public meeting on Monday, the board heard repeatedly that they’d missed the mark. The rules say doctors need to document in significant detail efforts that were made to save the pregnancy. And it says, if time allows, they should transfer patients “by any means available” to hospitals with a higher level of expertise to try to save a fetus.
If there isn’t enough time for a transfer, doctors have to document that. Texas Medical Board President Dr. Sherif Zaafran.