Texas Medical Board meets to discuss abortion exceptions
Petitioners say the proposed rule needs a lot of improvements
The Texas Medical Board met on Friday to discuss what possible exceptions to make with its abortion law.
The Texas Supreme Court had advised the Texas Medical Board to clarify the rules on the matter. Amy and Steve Bresnen, two lawyers who are also lobbyists, filed a petition to initiate the process.
“The main thing is they have finally published their alternative language,” Amy said. “Then we get talking about their rule, their proposed rule. We do have some concerns.”
Steve said this illustrated the problematic decision-making that came with not publishing the rule in advance. It’s also troubling that some on the board said their determination can’t be used in a civil or criminal trial. That essentially means that there is no legal protection given to doctors who perform the abortion in the situations that exceptions call for.
“It’s goofy in the extreme,” Steve said.
I attached the rule below and a video of the hearing.
“The proposal laid out today needs a lot of work in order to provide adequate protection for doctors,” Amy said.