By: Elise Catrion Gregg
Amy O’Donnell, spokeswoman for the anti-abortion Texas Alliance for Life, said that clarification needs to come from the Texas Medical Board – not the Legislature.
“For any physicians who are perhaps … confused on our clear pro-life laws, I would just encourage them to also reach out and see if they can get that clarification,” she said.
By: Selena Simmons-Duffin
In commenting on Casiano’s story, Texas Alliance for Life spokesperson Amy O’Donnell told NPR, “I do believe the Texas laws are working as designed.”
O’Donnell was also present at the hearing in Austin, telling NPR she was there “just to keep an eye on it and watch how it unfolds.” She said she believes that the laws are clear as is. “Doctors can exercise reasonable medical judgment; they can provide the standard of care,” she said.
By: Selena Simmons-Duffin
The sponsor of the bill in the Texas Senate was none other than S.B. 8 author Sen. Bryan Hughes. Hughes has not responded to any of NPR’s interview requests on multiple stories for months, but he did give an interview to National Review in June. “Texas law is already clear,” he said, a talking point made frequently by supporters of the bans, including the Texas Alliance for Life. “But because some doctors and hospitals were not following the law, we wanted to remove any doubt and remove any excuse for not giving the care that the moms need in these cases.”
Dr. John Thoppil, an Austin OB-GYN and past president of the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, calls the assertion that the law was already clear and that doctors are to blame for the uncertainty false. “If you put the threat of a felony case and losing your license in a very poorly written original law, it is irresponsible to shift that blame back to the physicians who are trying to take care of patients,” he says.
By: Elise Catrion Gregg
But in an August 2022 letter to the Texas Medical Board, he said he was aware of complaints that hospitals “may be wrongfully prohibiting or seriously delaying” life-saving care to patients with pregnancy complications. He pointed to “confusion or disregard” of state laws allowing for abortion in medical emergencies, and said the issues must be corrected.
Amy O’Donnell, spokeswoman for the anti-abortion Texas Alliance for Life, said that clarification needs to come from the Texas Medical Board – not the Legislature.
“For any physicians who are perhaps … confused on our clear pro-life laws, I would just encourage them to also reach out and see if they can get that clarification,” she said.
By: Dan Solomon
When proponents of the state’s abortion bans talk about how Texas law already has narrow exceptions for patients at risk, they’re usually referring to the section of HB 1280 that notes the exceptions to the law. In a statement emailed to Texas Monthly on Sunday, Amy O’Donnell, communications director for the anti-abortion group Texas Alliance for Life, expressed her disagreement with the ruling. “While Texas law is clear, we believe that some doctors are not apprised of the actual language of the law, resulting in poor care for their patients,” she wrote. Professional medical organizations such as the Texas Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), as well as the Texas Medical Board, should provide the guidance doctors rely on, she argued, rather than the courts. “Judicial activism from the bench using non-medically defined terms opens the door for greater confusion,” O’Donnell wrote.
“We applaud the swift action of the Texas Attorney General’s office to defend Texas law, which protects the lives of unborn babies while allowing abortions in rare cases when abortion is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life,” said Texas Alliance for Life Communications Director Amy O’Donnell. “While Texas law is clear, we believe that some doctors are not apprised of the actual language of the law, resulting in poor care for their patients. Professional organizations like the Texas Medical Association, ACOG, and the Texas Medical Board, are the proper sources of guidance and rules for physicians, not the courts. Judicial activism from the bench using non-medically defined terms opens the door for greater confusion.”
In August 2022, the Human Life Protection Act went into effect, protecting unborn babies from abortion beginning at conception. That law allows a physician to perform an abortion to save a mother’s life, when “in the exercise of reasonable medical judgment, the pregnant female . . . has 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 unless the abortion is performed or induced.”