Please Join Us By Signing To Ask Our Elected Leaders To Act Now To Protect One Of Our Most Important Assets - Our Mothers.

Dear Governor Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Patrick and Speaker Phelan,

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As a state, we have always upheld strong family values and the sanctity of life. After learning that the health and life of Texas’ mothers – which includes our wives, our sisters, our daughters and our daughters in law - have been significantly compromised with the passage of HB 1280 last session, we ask that you use this session to clean up the language in the law and remediate the unintended consequences of the legislation.

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Currently, a significant number of our doctors believe that Texas law dictates that they cannot provide life saving care until a mother’s life is in imminent danger or they will be prosecuted. Consequently, mothers throughout our state are being sent home with potentially life threatening conditions and not given care until their conditions have progressed to a point where they are at risk of death, which also may put their future fertility and ability to carry a child at risk, and in many instances, risk leaving their other children without a mother to raise and care for them. Also, mothers are being required to carry nonviable pregnancies to term, which often leads to significant mental and physical health challenges.

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We ask that you protect the life of mothers throughout our state and provide legislative leadership to amend Chapter 170A of the Texas Health and Safety Code (HB1280 87R) to:

1. Clarify that the current exception covers conditions which have the potential to be life-threatening or creates a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function — so doctors can treat their patients and provide life saving care before the mother is at imminent risk of death; and
2. Add an exception that allows a mother to end her pregnancy in the case of a nonviable pregnancy — we don’t want to make mothers carry a pregnancy to term that is not viable.
3. Instruct the Texas Medical Board to provide, within 60 days of the passage of legislation, guidance on each of these exceptions, including a list of commonly occurring conditions which are determined to meet these exceptions. 
4. Add language to address medical cases not covered by the Texas Medical Board list (per #3 above) that requires, before an intervention can occur, the specific condition must be certified as meeting one of the exceptions by two other appropriately board certified physicians.

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We believe that these thoughtful and conservative changes are necessary to protect mothers – and women who want to become mothers -- by allowing our doctors to provide life saving care while upholding the original intent of Texas’ restriction on abortion.

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Although it is late in session, we ask that you quickly move forward with an amendment. Whether we are Republicans, Democrats or Independents, we will stand behind you in this effort to save the lives of Texas’ mothers.

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Respectfully,

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Texas Campaign for Mothers & You