A new state law, which clarifies exceptions to Texas’ abortion ban in cases that can affect the mother’s health, will take effect on September 1.
House Bill 3058 clarifies that the state’s prohibition on abortions does not apply in two cases — ectopic pregnancies and pre-viable premature rupture of membranes (PPROM).
An ectopic pregnancy occurs when an egg implants outside the uterus and can be very dangerous for the mother. Treating an ectopic pregnancy is not considered an abortion.
A PPROM is a condition in which the mother’s water breaks before the fetus is viable outside the womb. Doctors may recommend abortion, as delaying labor until the fetus is viable can pose risks to the health of the mother, including infection, sepsis, and even death.
Terminating an ectopic pregnancy was already excluded from the definition of abortion under state law, and PPROMs were granted as an exception to the state abortion prohibition under the Human Life Protection Act of 2021.
HB 3058 makes explicit that doctors and healthcare providers who “exercised reasonable medical judgment” are permitted to terminate a pregnancy in response to either of these two exceptions.
Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, told The Dallas Express his anti-abortion organization “favored those exceptions in law because we want to make sure that doctors can treat a woman whose pregnancy is endangering her life.”
He described HB 3058 as “an attempt to clarify” those exceptions.
“I’m grateful that the governor [and] the legislature [are] taking particular care to try and clarify what’s already in law,” said Pojman. “But I point out, it’s already in law, and doctors were already immune from prosecution or civil liability.”
However, some pro-abortion activists think the bill did not go far enough.
Center for Reproductive Rights senior staff attorney Molly Duane said it is “wholly insufficient to address the widespread suffering happening across Texas,” citing examples of women in a lawsuit she is prosecuting who left the state after experiencing PPROM, per the Houston Chronicle.
“Under this bill, doctors who provide an abortion will still have to defend themselves in court to prove the abortion was necessary,” she said. “Imagine doing that in a state whose government has been zealously hostile towards abortion providers. Doctors can still be hauled into court where they face cripplingly high fines, life in prison, and loss of their medical license.”
HB 3058 was authored by Representatives Ann Johnson (D-Houston), Jeff Leach (R-Plano), Shelby Slawson (R-Stephenville), Donna Howard (D-Austin), and Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) and has been signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott.
