The Texas Senate passed a bill this week aimed at clarifying when doctors can perform life-saving emergency abortions under the state’s near-total abortion ban. As the Texas Tribune reports, Senate Bill 31, also known as the 'Life of the Mother Act,' would make the language that defines a medical emergency consistent across the various abortion statutes in Texas. And it would put the burden of proof on the state when a doctor is accused of violating abortion laws. The bill passed unanimously.
Republican State Senator Bryan Hughes of Mineola, Texas, north of Tyler, authored SB 31. Speaking on the Senate floor Hughes explained, “We don’t have any reason for hesitation, and we want to make sure the doctors are trained on what the law is.”
The version of the bill that passed the Senate says a patient’s death does not need to be imminent before a doctor can perform an abortion but must be facing a life-threatening condition caused or exacerbated by pregnancy.
But some Democrats expressed disappointment that it does not include any provisions for pregnancies that involve lethal fetal anomalies. Senator Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, was among those opposed to the measure. Eckhardt said to her Senate colleagues, “If your pregnancy falls outside of this politically determined exception, you are on your own.” SB 31 will now be sent to the House, where a version of the bill is currently pending in committee.
