She was told her twin sons wouldn’t survive. Texas law made her give birth anyway.
Miranda Michel, 26, couldn’t leave the state for an abortion. But she also couldn’t bear the idea of carrying a nonviable pregnancy to term. Full Story
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![Miranda Michel cradles her twin sons Helios and Perseus Langley in her arms a day after delivery at Medical City Dallas in Dallas, TX on August 10, 2023. Unable to legally terminate the pregnancy in Texas despite the twins having lethal fetal anomalies and a zero percent chance of viability, Michel carried her twins to term.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
How new regulations impact abortion and birth control access in Texas
More than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Texas continues to be the largest state in the nation to ban nearly all abortions. But some questions and changes to abortion and birth control access have arisen since then. Full Story
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![An exam room at Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas in Austin, Texas on August 8, 2023. (Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune)]()
Credit: Montinique Monroe for The Texas -
Texas lawmakers again try to prohibit private businesses from requiring COVID-19 vaccines
A Senate panel on Tuesday advanced such a measure. The debate centered largely around the safety of the vaccine and whether doctors’ offices and health care facilities should be exempt. Full Story
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![Arlington Fire Fighter Samuel Rochin, right, administers a COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare worker Vannia Atao at the Esports Stadium in Arlington on Jan. 05, 2021.]()
Credit: Ben Torres for The Texas Tribune -
As West Texas’ population grows, the need for more mental health care does too
Like many regions in Texas, the county jails and hospitals have been at capacity with people needing mental health help. Local leaders hope a new 200-bed facility will alleviate pressure. Full Story
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![A rendering of the proposed Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center -
Updated COVID-19 shot slowly rolls out in Texas, but access is spotty
Doses aren’t arriving at providers’ offices at uniform, predictable intervals. Shipments are largely dependent on individual providers’ ability to work out the logistics of ordering, stocking, training and paperwork. Full Story
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![Linda Murphy pulls up doses of the Pfizer vaccine into syringes at a clinic organized by the Travis County Mobile Vaccine Collaborative at Rodriguez Elementary School on July 28, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
‘They just tried to scare us’: Anti-abortion centers teach sex ed inside some Texas public schools
The groups work in dozens of school districts across the state, but some public health experts say their curricula can be misleading and biased. Full Story
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![The South Texas Pregnancy Care Center in Seguin.]()
Credit: Sarah Butrymowicz/The Hechinger Report -
With no opposition in the room, a rural Texas county makes traveling for an abortion on its roads illegal
Cochran County, which borders New Mexico, joins a small group of other rural Texas counties that have passed these ordinances. Abortion-rights supporters say the new policies are not legal. Full Story
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![Mark Lee Dixon talks during the meeting. Members of the public talk about abortion issues during the Cochran County Commissioners meeting Thursday morning, Sept. 28, 2023.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune -
Convicted murderer Scott Panetti isn’t sane enough to be executed, federal judge rules
Panetti murdered his in-laws in 1992. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 set new court precedent with his case, raising the bar on the constitutional restriction against executing the insane. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
‘An understaffed and broken system’: 900,000 Texans have lost Medicaid as others struggle to access SNAP benefits
Texas Democrats in Congress are urging the federal government to audit the state’s Medicaid eligibility system Full Story
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![Yesenia Alvarado holds her daughter, Medicaid patient Melanie Almaraz, 2, while waiting to see Dr. Alberto Vasquez for treatment of a fever at Su Clinica Familiar in Harlingen, Texas on Jul. 9, 2013.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
A Texas county that borders New Mexico is the latest to consider an abortion travel ban
Cochran County commissioners meet Thursday to discuss the ban. Abortion-rights supporters say the bans are unenforceable and meant to stoke fear. Full Story
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![A highway in West Texas.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Nonprofit drug treatment center for low-income Texas teens shutters amid opioid crisis
Phoenix House is the latest casualty in an escalating funding crisis for Texas treatment centers as the state struggles with startling increases in overdose deaths, particularly among young people. Full Story
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![The Phoenix House in Dallas.]()
Credit: Phoenix House website -
The 2023 Texas Tribune Festival in photos
Here’s a look back at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival through the eyes of Tribune photographers. Full Story
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![Evan Smith meets backstage with U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, before the start of the closing keynote at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, TX on Sept. 23, 2023.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Dallas selected as one of three national hubs for new medical innovation federal agency
The city joins Cambridge, Mass. and the Washington, D.C. area as epicenters of the new agency. A Biden administration initiative, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health will work toward medical breakthroughs in treating diseases like cancer, Alzheimer and diabetes. Full Story
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![An aerial view of Dallas.]()
Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto -
A unique Texas legal rule lets the attorney general’s office supersede some judges’ orders
Lawyers criticize a provision they say erodes the separation of powers between Texas’ executive branch and its courts. It’s been used repeatedly this year as Texans try to block new state laws from going into effect. 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.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas leads the nation in oil production. What about industry-related deaths?
An industry leader in the Permian Basin said the new report proves safety regulations are helping. Other observers say more data is needed to understand risks of extraction. Full Story
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![The sun begins to set behind a pumpjack site in Gardendale on Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune -
Watch a conversation about the fight over abortion access at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival
Panelists talked about the fight that continues after the Dobbs verdict — from coast to coast and border to border. Full Story
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![Watch a conversation about the continuing fight over abortion access at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival]()
Credit: Reagan Mcgregor Hicks/Texas Tribune -
Free COVID-19 tests and updated vaccines as the cold season approaches
As COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths rise slightly across the nation, here’s how you can get more at-home tests and the updated vaccine for free. Full Story
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![Take home COVID-19 self-testing kits provided by the District of Columbia government, which provides city residents four free take-home tests per day, in this illustration on Jan. 11, 2022.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein -
Laws have changed around parking for disabled Texans over the years. Here’s how it looks today.
How have new laws changed accessible parking? How are violations enforced? Here’s what you need to know about parking for people with disabilities. Full Story
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![A car with a disabled veteran license plate sits parked in a disabled parking zone outside the Capitol Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023 in Austin.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo extends mental health leave
The county’s top elected official will be discharged from a mental health facility this weekend and plans to return to work on Oct. 2 after two weeks of outpatient therapy. Full Story
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![Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo greets attendees during a Get Out the Vote Rally hosted by the Asian American Democrats of Texas in Asiatown on Oct. 15, 2022.]()
Credit: Briana Vargas for The Texas Tribune -
The percentage of uninsured Texans in 2022 dropped to the lowest in a decade
Texas is still the state with the highest percentage of uninsured residents, at nearly 17 percent, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau survey released Thursday. Full Story
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![Dr. Spencer R. Berthelsen, M.D., Chairman, Board of Directors at Kelsey-Seybold, who still sees patients two days a week, visits with patient Francisco Garcia (also a doctor at Kelsey Seybold) before his annual physical at their clinic in Sugar Land. Sept. 22, 2011.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune