Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Legislature should clarify Texas abortion law to protect mothers at risk

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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Sunday said the Legislature should amend the language of the state’s near-total abortion ban to address confusion over when doctors may terminate pregnancies.

“I do think we need to clarify any language so that doctors are not in fear of being penalized if they think the life of the mother is at risk,” Patrick said on the WFAA program “Inside Texas Politics.”

Patrick is the first major state elected official to offer support for changing the state’s abortion law in this legislative session. The Texas abortion ban went into effect in 2022 and prohibits abortions in all circumstances except when the life of the pregnant person is at risk.

Some doctors have said the law is unclear, however, as to how ill a pregnant person has to be to qualify for an abortion. Punishments for violating the abortion statute include up to life in prison and a fine of at least $100,000.

A group of 111 Texas obstetrician-gynecologists in November sent a letter to state leaders urging them to reform the law, which they said as written “threatens physicians with life imprisonment and loss of licensure for doing what is often medically necessary for the patient’s health and future fertility.”

The letter cited two recent investigations by ProPublica of pregnant women in Texas who died after doctors delayed treating their miscarriages, which can conflict with the abortion law, which prohibits doctors from ending the heartbeat of a fetus. More than a dozen medical experts consulted by the news organization concluded that the deaths of Josseli Barnica, 28, and Nevaeh Crain, 18, were preventable.

The reporting earned a rebuke from Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, who said in an op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle that the Texas Health and Safety Code clearly defines when a pregnant patient is ill enough to qualify for an abortion. Hughes said doctors had performed 119 abortions in life-saving situations since the law took effect.

Patrick’s comment is not the first time Republican members of the Senate have suggested tweaking the law. Sen. Bob Nichols of Jacksonville said in 2022 said he would support extending abortion access to victims of rape. The Senate has passed no such bill.

How much of a priority this is for Patrick, who as president of the Senate wields tremendous power of the body, remains to be seen. He made no mention of reforming the state’s abortion laws in 78 interim priorities he sent to Senate committees in April and September of last year.