Department of State Health Services

House lawmakers tentatively approved a series of bills Monday aimed at helping Texas curb its unusually high rate of women dying less than a year after childbirth.

 

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Both chambers passed bills on Tuesday aimed at curbing postpartum depression and the alarming rise in Texas mothers dying less than a year after giving birth.

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House lawmakers on Monday voted to streamline how courts work with the state's child welfare agency to protect abused and neglected kids — and laid out concrete reasons children can be removed from their homes. 

 

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Senate Health and Human Services Committee members heard emotional testimony from reproductive rights and anti-abortion advocates on Wednesday over Senate Bill 8, Senate Bill 415 and Senate Bill 258.

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U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks ruled Texas cannot require health providers to bury or cremate fetuses, delivering another blow to state leaders in the reproductive rights debate.

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Reproductive rights advocates have expressed concern that Texas lawmakers will take bolder steps in the upcoming session to defund abortion providers and dismantle access to abortion, birth control and other sexual health services.

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In a report released Thursday, Texas House Select Committee on Mental Health members wrote that mental health “is absolutely one of the most critical areas of concern” facing the state.

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U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks announced Wednesday that he was delaying the start date of the state's fetal remains burial rule for another three weeks. State officials had originally scheduled the rule to go into effect on Dec. 19.

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Here’s a look at the top health and human services storylines The Texas Tribune tracked this year.

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Judge Sam Sparks ruled Thursday afternoon that the Texas Department of State Health Services would have to push back its start date requiring health providers to bury or cremate aborted fetuses. 

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging pregnant women to avoid Brownsville if they can and for those visiting the area to be tested for the virus, which is known to cause birth defects.

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An estimated 1.6 million adult Texans have substance use disorders, many addicted to drugs that arrive illegally from Mexico.

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The center had pledged in August to take legal action if the new fetal remains rules were adopted.

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State and local officials have identified four more locally transmitted cases of Zika in Cameron County, weeks after the first such case in Texas was reported there.

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A board of lawmakers has given final approval for $150 million in funding to help pull the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services out of its crisis mode — but there are strings attached. 

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Health workers and first responders hoped Texas might be awarded $1 million to buy an anti-overdose drug, but state officials never submitted the grant application.

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The situation in Texas took a turn after officials identified several cases that they believe were transmitted locally by mosquitoes. Here's what you need to know.

 

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With one major legal battle seemingly behind them, Sandra Bland's survivors and advocates are gearing up for the next phase of their quest to wrest change from the 28-year-old black woman's death. 

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Two recent studies have highlighted the increasing rate of maternal deaths in Texas, but researchers say they can't explain why it's happening.

 

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Texas health regulators are starting from scratch in designing a project to store massive amounts of data — after spending millions of dollars trying to roll out a version that’s now been scrapped.

 

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