Health Care
Where do Texas Democrats Stand on Single-Payer Health Care?
State Plans to Restore Services after Advocates in Wheelchairs Surprise Officials
After disability advocates surrounded HHSC officials Monday, they were told the contract would be renewed, but few details have been provided.
On Monday afternoon, Emily Wolinsky and about 15 other disability-rights advocates, most in wheelchairs, sat around a long table at an Italian restaurant across...Read More
Judge Temporarily Halts New Texas Abortion Ban
In his ruling, Judge Lee Yeakel said that unless Roe v. Wade is overturned, he will continue applying the constitutional standard of no “undue burden” on women.
In a rebuke to state lawmakers, a federal judge in Austin temporarily halted a law passed by the Legislature in May that bans a common second-trimester abortion...Read More
Despite Self-Congratulation, Lawmakers Did Virtually Nothing about Maternal Mortality Crisis
Governor Greg Abbott said he was “committed to doing everything we can to combat the maternal mortality rate,” but lawmakers ignored specific recommendations to reduce pregnancy-related deaths.
Jen Reel From the way the governor and top Republican lawmakers have been talking, you’d think the Legislature was taking bold steps toward solving the state...Read More
Introducing the Texas Observer’s Rural Reporting Project
Texas has the biggest rural population in the nation, yet many journalists treat much of the state as flyover country.
Trump’s election taught the nation many painful lessons. Among them: the traditional divide between town and country has become a chasm. People in blue, urban...Read More
Red is the New Orange: Handmaids Bring More than Just Silence to the Abortion Fight
The grassroots group of reproductive justice activists have seized a terrifying political moment and created a defiant act of pop-cultural resistance.
In white bonnets and bright-red robes, they sit silently in protest as lawmakers usher in yet another bill that will make it harder for Texans to access abortio...Read More
Compassionate (Ab)use: Family Battles Texas over Medical Marijuana
The Zartlers have gone through a veritable pharmacy of prescription drugs, but they say medical marijuana is the only thing that stops Kara from hitting herself.
Mark Zartler measures how well his 17-year-old daughter, Kara, is doing by what he calls a “hit test” — counting the number of times she hits herself on a...Read More
What a Ban on Insurance for Abortions Means for Women with High-Risk Pregnancies
UPDATE: Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 214 into law on Tuesday, August 15. The measure passed the Senate on August 13 by a vote of 20 to 10, and in the ...Read More
Lawsuit Filed Against New Texas Abortion Law
The Trump presidency and possible changes to the Supreme Court raise the stakes for the state’s next abortion fight.
One year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Texas’ sweeping 2013 anti-abortion law that closed the majority of clinics in the state, reproductive-righ...Read More
Texas Bill Would Revoke Medical Licenses of Doctors Who Perform Abortions
A measure proposed in the special session would ban physicians from providing almost all abortions.
A bill filed in the Texas Legislature’s special session would revoke the licenses of doctors who perform abortions in the state, with limited exceptions. The ...Read More