Texas doctors say abortion bans impact care for expectant mothers

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(Texas News Service)
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Newly confirmed U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche reportedly told faith leaders he and President Donald Trump are working on a national abortion ban.

Pro-life advocates want stricter mandates on the distribution of abortion-inducing medications. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed multiple lawsuits against doctors who have mailed mifepristone into the state.

Dr. Anitra Beasley, an obstetrics and gynecology physician in Houston, said doctors put the health of their patients first but Texas laws make it more difficult for them to do their jobs.

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"The focus should be completely on the patient, not whether I can lose my license, not whether there's going to be a huge fine that I have to pay, not whether I'm risking being sued or put into jail," Beasley contended.

Texas already has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. A report by ProPublica showed after abortions were banned in the state in 2021, the maternal mortality rate in the state increased as the national rate dropped.

The abortion ban allows for a pregnancy to be terminated to save a pregnant person's life. Members of the legislature issued clarified information about the law last year after doctors said they were unsure when a procedure could be performed.

Beasley stressed doctors should be able to rely on their education and training to do their jobs, not a law.

"If someone comes in and they're having heavy bleeding, I know what I need to do. But the laws that we practice under make me question whether or not the patient's situation is enough. Are they bleeding enough?" Beasley pointed out.

Beasley argued the laws are making it unsafe for pregnant patients in the state, especially low-income residents, people of color, immigrants and the uninsured.

"We don't wait for people to get sick before we take care of them, we do not tie physicians' hands behind their backs, we do not tell them what they can and can't say in the exam room, we do not scare them. We don't do this with any other aspect of medicine," Beasley emphasized.