No one knows when it is legal to perform medically necessary abortions in Texas

[Scott]

 

A lawsuit, recently filed in a Texas trial court, seeks to answer a question that has vexed lawyers, doctors, hospitals, and patients ever since the Supreme Court permitted the state to ban abortions: When can a Texas patient obtain an abortion in order to save their life or ward off serious health consequences?

 

Texas is famously one of the most anti-abortion states in the country — you may remember the Supreme Court fight over the 2021 Texas law that sics litigious bounty hunters on abortion providers — but even in Texas, it is legal for doctors to perform an abortion when one is necessary to protect the health or life of a patient.

 

Or, at least, it is supposed to be legal.

 

https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/3/12/23631278/supreme-court-abortion-texas-medically-necessary-sepsis-zurawski

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Given that doctors run the risk of life imprisonment if convicted of performing an illegal abortion, they really can't be blamed for their reluctance to do so when guidelines are so unclear.

And then there's the issue of bounty hunters: Texas has authorized private citizens to look for infractions of the law and sue.

[bamnutsak]

"Keep 'em guessing".

 

That's a feature not a bug.

 

The Texas Attorney General has warned CVS and Wal­greens on the Ille­gal­i­ties of Send­ing Abor­tion Pills Through the Mail

 

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/paxton-warns-cvs-and-walgreens-illegalities-sending-abortion-pills-through-mail

 

 

No clue why they are pushing so hard on this given how poorly it polls.

 

After fifty some years I guess they just can't quit it.