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Texas Abortion Restrictions

Texas Medical Board to consider issuing guidance on abortion laws’ medical exceptions

On March 22, the board will discuss clarifying what counts as a medical exception to the state’s abortion restrictions.

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An ultrasound machine sits next to an empty patient's bed at Whole Women’s Health of Austin on Sept. 1, 2021.
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune

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The Texas Medical Board will consider language to clarify what qualifies as a medical exception to the state’s abortion laws at an upcoming March 22 board meeting. The meeting agenda was published in the Texas Register Thursday morning.

According to the medical board’s agenda, it will consider and take “possible action on rules regarding exceptions to the ban on abortions” at their upcoming meeting.

This comes after Texas attorneys and lobbyists Steve and Amy Bresnen filed a petition in January that asked the board to issue “clear guidance” about when an abortion is permitted under the law.

The Bresnens filed the petition, prompted by the Texas Supreme Court’s rejection of Kate Cox’s attempt to end her nonviable pregnancy last year. The Dallas woman had an abortion in another state after the Texas Supreme Court ruled that she did not qualify for a medical emergency abortion.

“We are hopeful that there is movement, and we know that this is just the first step in a long journey to justice,” Amy Bresnen said Thursday.

Texas laws ban nearly all abortions unless, “in the exercise of a reasonable medical judgment,” a doctor determines that the patient is experiencing “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.”

Texas first passed a law in 2021 that banned most abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy — before many women know they are pregnant. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, it activated a Texas trigger law on abortion.

Since then, multiple women in the state have been denied medically necessary abortions for complicated pregnancies. Many have said they should have qualified for abortions under medical exceptions to the state’s law — but their doctors were too unclear on those narrow exceptions and feared the consequences of providing the procedure.

The Texas Medical Board can revoke a doctor’s license if they violate the state’s abortion laws. In December 2023, Texas’ Supreme Court asked the board to provide doctors with more guidance on exceptions after the court rejected Cox’s bid for a medical emergency abortion. Before the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Texas law would have allowed Cox to have an abortion at her doctor’s office or hospital

In a March 13 letter to the Bresnen’s obtained by The Texas Tribune, the board said they will consider the draft language proposed in the petition as well as alternate language.

In their January petition, the Bresnen’s also called on the board to identify steps doctors can take to ensure that their decisions meet legal standards for medical exceptions. The petition requested that the board ban complaints against doctors that are not supported by specific evidence proving that an abortion performed in Texas was illegal.

After draft language is considered, the board could publish a rule in the Texas Register regarding medical exceptions. There would be a 30-day public comment period to follow, ahead of a final rule.

Abortion and contraception access

  • What does abortion access look like in Texas?

    It is illegal to perform an abortion in Texas, including by dispensing or mailing the abortion-inducing medications mifepristone and misoprostol, in most circumstances. Texas’ laws have narrow exceptions only to save the life of a pregnant patient or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.” State laws do not criminalize the person who has an abortion. Some Texans have found ways to get abortions by traveling to other states or Mexico, or self-managing abortions at home by getting medications through international nonprofits, such as Aid Access, or online stores.

  • What counts as a medical emergency in Texas?

    State law says treatments for miscarriages, known as “spontaneous abortions” in medicine, and ectopic pregnancies, a potentially life-threatening condition in which a fertilized egg grows outside of the uterus, do not count as illegal abortions. Health care providers also have a legal defense for providing abortions to treat a “previable premature rupture of membranes” when a pregnant patient’s water breaks too early for the fetus to survive outside the uterus. Read more here.

  • What does contraception access look like in Texas?

    Adults in Texas can access a range of birth control and reproductive health care services through most health insurance plans and government-funded programs. State programs and federally-funded Title X clinics also provide contraception for those who are uninsured or undocumented. However, minors need parental consent to get prescribed birth control, including at Title X clinics, unless they are on the federal Medicaid insurance program. Emergency contraception, like Plan B, is still available over-the-counter in stores and, in some cases, through federally-funded clinics and public health departments. Read more about birth control access in Texas here.

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