Women in Deep East Texas drive over an hour to give birth after the last obstetrics unit in the area closed in 2019. But if closing the unit was hard, reopening it is proving nearly impossible.
Eleanor Klibanoff
Eleanor Klibanoff is the law and politics reporter, based in Austin, where she covers the the Texas Legislature, the Office of the Attorney General, state and federal courts and politics writ large. She also co-hosts the weekly politics podcast, TribCast. Eleanor previously spent three years as the Tribune’s women’s health reporter, covering abortion, maternal health and LGBTQ issues. Before coming to Texas, Eleanor worked for the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, where she reported, hosted and produced the Peabody-nominated podcast, “Dig.” Eleanor was born in Philadelphia and raised in Atlanta, and attended The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
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Health care
Texas family planning clinics require parental consent for birth control following court ruling
The Title X program has long provided free, confidential contraception to anyone, regardless of age, income or immigration status. A North Texas federal judge ruled in December that the program violates Texas law and parents’ rights.
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Health care
Federal court ruling may prevent Texas teens from getting birth control without parental permission
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a former religious liberty lawyer, found that a federal program that gives teens access to birth control denies a parent “a fundamental right to control and direct the upbringing of his minor children.”
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Health care
Why are pregnancy and childbirth killing so many Black women in Texas?
A decade ago, Black women in Texas were twice as likely as white women to die from pregnancy and childbirth. Today, not much has changed.
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Health care
New Texas maternal mortality report shows disparities persist
The Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee report, delayed by more than three months, estimates that up to 90% of the deaths may have been preventable. Severe complications from pregnancy and childbirth also increased significantly.
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Health care
Delayed Texas maternal mortality report to be released next week, state says
Due in September, the report was delayed to allow a full review of 2019 cases, the state health agency said. That review didn’t change the findings.
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Texas Abortion Restrictions
Texas state court throws out lawsuit against doctor who violated abortion law
The court’s ruling does not overturn the 2021 law, which banned abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. It also does not impact the near-total ban on abortion that went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas lawmakers target property taxes, election fraud and transgender people in new legislation ahead of 2023 session
Thousands of bills are expected to be filed for the legislative session that begins in January. Lawmakers are expected to have a budget surplus when they return to Austin.
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Texas Abortion Restrictions
Abortion helped Democrats across the U.S. hold off a “red wave.” Not in Texas.
In conservative Kansas and Kentucky, voters turned out in droves and crossed party lines to support abortion access. In Texas — where candidates, not issues, were on the ballot — there was no such surge in support.
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Health care
Rio Grande Valley abortion clinic bought by anti-abortion pregnancy center
Whole Woman’s Health, which owned the building for nearly two decades, said they were “duped” after the doctors who bought the building sold it to the McAllen Pregnancy Center.