Maternal deaths surged in Texas in 2020, 2021
Even excluding deaths related to COVID, Texas’ maternal mortality rate spiked, reversing two years of improvement. Full Story
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![A woman gets a sonogram in an Austin clinic.]()
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Democrats hope campaign against school vouchers will help retake South Texas House seat
The first-term Republican defending her seat said a private school voucher program will help her community, especially students from low-income families. Full Story
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![From left: Democrat Jonathan Gracia is challenging Republican incumbent Janie Lopez in state House District 37, which covers part of the Rio Grande Valley, which includes Harlingen and part of Brownsville.]()
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Odessa’s mayor ran to help the West Texas city “repent.” Now he wants a second term.
Under Javier Joven’s leadership, his critics say, the Odessa City Council has lost focus on municipal issues like roads and water infrastructure. Full Story
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![Javier Joven, Mayor of Odessa, poses for a photo at his childhood home Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Odessa.]()
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After being denied a medically necessary abortion, Amanda Zurawski will do whatever it takes to beat Donald Trump
Two years after a harrowing pregnancy where she was denied an abortion, the Texan has catapulted to being one of Democrats’ biggest messengers on reproductive rights. Full Story
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![Amanda Zurawski, a plaintiff in the Zurawski v. Texas case, speaks, with other plaintiffs standing behind her, at the kick-off event for the “Women for Allred” coalition addressing the state of women’s health and abortion rights, in Dallas on Aug. 24, 2024.]()
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Texas women at DNC tell of necessary health care denied because of state abortion laws
The fight to push back abortion restrictions is central to Texas’ presence at the Democratic convention, and is a focus of the Kamala Harris campaign. Full Story
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![Kate Cox reads a book to her two-year-old son at their Dallas area home, on Aug. 11, 2024. Cox and her husband Justin fled Texas in December 2023 to terminate a likely nonviable pregnancy after the state blocked her request for an emergency abortion.]()
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These Texans are scheduled to speak this week at the Democratic National Convention
U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett and Veronica Escobar are expected to speak on the mainstage in Chicago. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, speaks at the first general session at the Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso on June 7, 2024.]()
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In new complaint, Texas women say delayed care due to abortion laws endangered their fertility
Texas law allows doctors to terminate ectopic pregnancies, but both women say they were denied care until it was too late. Full Story
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In the Texas Panhandle, nurses make home visits to new moms in need
Local leaders of the Nurse-Family Partnership hope they can secure money to expand the program to the region’s rural areas. Full Story
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![AMARILLO, TX - JUNE 18, 2024: From left to center, Sedraya Kemp, 21, get emotional speaking with Brianna Tilson, a nurse home visitor with Coalition of Health Services, during a visit at her apartment in Amarillo, Texas on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Ms. Tilson is part of the Nurse Family Partnership, a federal program that aids pregnant women and new moms in rural areas. Ms. Kemp is pregnant and has a one-year-old son, Quaveeon Shaw. CREDIT: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Desiree Rios for The Texas Tribune -
Texas funnels millions to anti-abortion groups with little oversight
Texas leads the nation in funding for crisis pregnancy centers. But they’re riddled with waste, a ProPublica and CBS News investigation found. Full Story
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Abortion on the ballot: Amarillo set to vote on abortion travel ban this election
After the Amarillo City Council balked at such an ordinance last year, residents collected signatures for a ballot measure. Full Story
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![View of Downtown Amarillo on Dec. 19, 2023.]()
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Again and again, U.S. Supreme Court slaps down 5th Circuit
The New Orleans-based court, which hears Texas cases, is pushing the federal judiciary to the right, even when it gets overturned by a higher court. Full Story
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![The John Minor Wisdom United States Fifth Court of Appeals building in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Oct. 3, 2017.]()
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Five abortions a month: How Dobbs changed Texas
Before Roe v. Wade was overturned two years ago, the monthly average was around 4,400. Full Story
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![Abortion rights demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court after the court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision, in Washington, D.C. on June 24, 2022.]()
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Texas adopts guidance for how doctors should interpret abortion ban
The guidance lays out what the Texas Medical Board will consider when investigating allegations of illegal abortions. Full Story
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![President of the Texas Medical Board Dr. Sherif Zaafran, M.D., center, speaks during a board meeting in Austin on Mar. 22, 2024. During the meeting, the board addressed ‘Consideration and possible action on rules regarding exceptions to the ban on abortions.’]()
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Texas Supreme Court rejects case that could have imperiled IVF access
The justices allowed a lower court’s opinion to stand, and, for now, sidestepped the question of whether a frozen embryo has the same rights as a living child. Full Story
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![A doctor injects sperm directly into an egg during in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure called Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection at Novum clinic October 26, 2010, in Warsaw.]()
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As a Texas city debates an abortion travel ban, maternal care is scarce in nearby rural counties
Amid a fight over an “abortion travel ban,” women health care experts say more attention is needed to the plight of pregnant Texans in the Panhandle where there are few hospitals and OBGYNs. Full Story
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![The town of Cactus on Jan. 29, 2020. Cactus is in the upper part of the Texas Panhandle, about 50 miles north of Amarillo.]()
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U.S. Supreme Court allows access to abortion pill, unanimously rejecting Texas challenge
In the high court’s first abortion-related ruling since it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the justices ruled unanimously to change nothing about mifepristone’s legal status. Full Story
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![A patient prepares to take mifepristone, the first pill given in a medical abortion, on Jan. 13, 2023.]()
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Amarillo City Council rejects so-called abortion travel ban
A group of anti-abortion advocates must now decide whether they want the city voters to have the final say on their proposed policy. Full Story
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![Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley talks during the City Council on Tuesday, May 28, 2024]()
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Texas Supreme Court rejects challenge to abortion laws
The court ruled against 20 women who said they were denied medically necessary abortions, saying the medical exceptions in the law were broad enough. Full Story
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![Amanda Zurawski, middle, addresses the press following the first day of testimony for Zurawski v. State of Texas outside the Travis County Civil and Family Courts Facility in Austin on July 19, 2023.]()
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Despite pressure, Amarillo City Council punts on abortion travel ban petition
Supporters of the petition may ultimately seek a vote of Amarillo residents later this fall. Full Story
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![Amarillo Mayor Cole Stanley, left, and Councilman Tom Scherlen listen to testimony during a city council meeting Tuesday, May 28 in Amarillo. Residents gave testimony and arguments to members of the city council as they discussed a proposed abortion travel ban in Amarillo.]()
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Anti-abortion doctor appointed to Texas maternal death review committee
Dr. Ingrid Skop, an influential anti-abortion advocate, will now be reviewing maternal deaths for the state. Full Story
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![Dr. Ingrid Skop speaks at the Texas Medical Board meeting to discuss guidance around physicians for medical exceptions to the state's abortion ban laws at the George H.W. Bush State Office Building on March 22, 2024.]()
Credit: Jay Janner/American-Statesman/USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS