Health Care
We Asked You About Health Care in Rural Texas. Here are Your Stories.
State Investigators Identify ‘Serious Contractual Violations’ by the Heidi Group
A new report from the health inspector general says the Heidi Group, an anti-abortion group tapped to replace Planned Parenthood in state family planning programs, misused taxpayer funds, and calls for an expanded investigation of the group’s contracts.
State investigators now say an anti-abortion group tapped to replace Planned Parenthood in Texas’ reproductive health programs must repay nearly $1.6 million ...Read More
Critical Condition
Rural health care is in crisis around the country, but Texas is suffering the most. At least 20 small-town hospitals have closed since 2013.
a Texas Observer Special Investigation Critical Condition Rural health care is in crisis around the country, but Texas is suffering the most. At least 20 small-...Read More
A Dying Town
When a rural hospital dies, the community around it starts to follow suit.
Critical Condition: part 1 A Dying Town When a rural hospital dies, the community around it starts to follow suit. + + + by Christopher Collins and Sophie Novac...Read More
The Supreme Court Taking Up Louisiana’s Abortion Case ‘Flies in the Face of Precedent’
Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, won a major victory against a Texas anti-abortion law at the U.S. Supreme Court three years ago. In an interview, she talks about the recent case coming out of Louisiana and what it means for abortion rights in the U.S.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case against a Louisiana law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospita...Read More
Some Small Texas Towns Are Declaring Themselves ‘Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn’
Frustrated with the Legislature, Texas city officials are taking on abortion rights through local policy measures.
Update, September 25, 2019: This story, originally published on September 18, 2019, has been updated to reflect news that additional towns have passed citywide ...Read More
American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?
Physician Marty Makary’s new book shows how sky-high medical bills can ruin patients’ lives—but puts the burden on individuals to demand change.
Add yet another first place health care ranking no one wants for Texas: We have the highest hospital bills in the country. A new study has found that Texas pr...Read More
Thousands of Rape Kits in Texas Went Untested For Years. Lavinia Masters Is Ending That.
The Lavinia Masters Act, which goes into effect in September, is the culmination of more than ten years of Masters’ advocacy in Texas, where a backlog of about 20,000 untested rape kits was identified in 2011.
Lavinia Masters was 13 years old when a stranger raped her at knifepoint in her Dallas bedroom. For more than two decades, her rape kit—the evidence collected...Read More
‘My Congregation Trusts Women’: Progressive Faith Groups Counter Anti-Abortion Narratives
Conservative Texas groups and lawmakers have cited their faith to back abortion restrictions, but polling shows that majorities across many religions actually support abortion rights.
On a scorching afternoon in mid-July, clergy members gathered outside a small unmarked building tucked away in a business complex in North Austin. They filed in...Read More
A Texas Anti-Abortion Group Dramatically Missed its Family Planning Targets. Now its Founder is Suing the Federal Government for More Money.
Vita Nuova doesn’t appear to exist beyond its paper filing, but it is suing to get Title X funding in a hypothetical future in which it is ineligible for said funding.
Anti-abortion activist Carol Everett—whose organization the Heidi Group served a fraction of the women’s health patients it pledged to treat and is under st...Read More
