Tag Archives: abortion

Trying again in Harker Heights

Posted on January 2, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I admire the determination. Cannabis reform advocates are pushing back against the city council of the Central Texas city of Harker Heights, which recently rejected a voter-approved ballot measure decriminalizing low levels of pot possession there. Harker Heights was one … Continue reading →

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A closer look at the maternal mortality report

Posted on December 29, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I take no joy in predicting that the Legislature will take no action on this. Nakeenya Wilson was at a meeting of Texas’ maternal mortality review committee when she got the call: Her sister, who had recently had a baby, … Continue reading →

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Wingnut Trump judge issues his anti-birth control ruling

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

And from here it goes to the Fifth Circuit. Isn’t this fun? A federal court ruling Tuesday may make it nearly impossible for Texas teens to access birth control without their parents’ permission. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that … Continue reading →

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Here at last is that updated report on maternal mortality

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We’re still really bad at preventing it, especially for Black women. At least 118 women dead and nearly 200 children left without a mother. This was just a portion of the death toll from pregnancy and childbirth in Texas in … Continue reading →

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We said they’d come for birth control next

Posted on December 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

And here they are. Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee to a federal court in Texas, spent much of his career trying to interfere with other people’s sexuality. A former lawyer at a religious conservative litigation shop, Kacsmaryk denounced, in a 2015 article, … Continue reading →

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“Heartbeat” lawsuit against doctor dismissed

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I’d forgotten this was still a thing, it had been so long since it was filed. In the first test of the Texas law that empowers private citizens to sue for a minimum of $10,000 in damages over any illegal … Continue reading →

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Look to the state legislatures for the next frontiers in forced birtherism

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The state of Texas will of course be on the forefront of this, but it will surely follow examples from other states as well. As statehouses across the country prepare for next year’s legislative sessions — most for the first … Continue reading →

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The environmental attack on abortion

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s ridiculous. Abortion opponents and their allies in elected office are seizing on an unusual strategy after suffering a wave of election defeats — using environmental laws to try to block the distribution of abortion pills. The new approach comes … Continue reading →

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Quantifying the abortion ban harm

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

These stories will keep on coming. Usually, articles in medical journals are about science; they bring data to their readers, who can use them to provide evidence-based care to their patients. But sometimes, evidence is an expression of grief or … Continue reading →

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It’s legislative bullying time

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go again. Republican lawmakers in Texas and Washington D.C. are threatening some of the nation’s largest corporate law firms if they provide what the lawmakers consider to be improper advice on issues such as climate change, diversity and … Continue reading →

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Forced birther lawsuit targets abortion pills

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Did you think you were going to have a nice, peaceful Thanksgiving week? Sorry, no can do. Abortion opponents who helped challenge Roe v. Wade filed a lawsuit Friday that takes aim at medication abortions, asking a federal judge in … Continue reading →

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Paxton taken off the hook for testifying in abortion funds’ lawsuit

Posted on November 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

By the Fifth Circuit, of course. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will not have to testify as nonprofits that help patients legally obtain abortions seek clarity on whether they can do their work in states like Texas where the procedure … Continue reading →

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Our future doctor shortage

Posted on November 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Putting a pin in this. As reported by Jan Hoffman for The New York Times, in order to satisfy their prerequisites for specialty board certification, OB-GYN physicians in post-graduate medical residency programs must comply with national requirements, which include training in the performance of … Continue reading →

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The surge in mail order abortion pills

Posted on November 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see how long this lasts. We know the Lege is going to take aim at it. Requests for mail-order abortion pills continued to spike in Texas, nearly doubling this summer after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, … Continue reading →

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The “abortion sanctuary cities” lawsuit at SCOTx

Posted on October 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A big decision this will be. The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday over whether a defamation case brought by several abortion funds against prominent anti-abortion activist Mark Lee Dickson should be dismissed. In 2019, Waskom in Harrison County became the first Texas city to … Continue reading →

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So many abortion clinics have closed

Posted on October 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Most of them are in Texas. More than half of the 23 abortion clinics in Texas have closed since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, according to a new report. Twelve clinics have shuttered their operations … Continue reading →

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In which I pay a few minutes’ attention to the Miss USA pageant

Posted on October 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

What can I say? I love some controversy in niche competitive events. Just days after Miss Texas USA R’Bonney Gabriel was crowned Miss USA, several other contestants have accused the pageant of favoritism and rigging the competition. During the live broadcast, several … Continue reading →

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Telemundo and Asian Texans For Justice polls

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Saw this on Twitter: NEW: The latest Telemundo poll shows a majority of Texas Latinos favor Beto for Governor: @BetoORourke: 54% @GregAbbott_TX: 31% This is BIG news. — Antonio Arellano (@AntonioArellano) 11:42 AM – 28 September 2022 In the comments … Continue reading →

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Evade this, Kenny

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Paxton gets ordered to testify, along with an old-fashioned bench slapping. A federal judge has ordered Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to testify in an abortion rights lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman had previously quashed the subpoena, which Paxton … Continue reading →

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The Paxton subpoena-fleeing saga gets more ridiculous

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Because of course it does. Lawyers in an abortion lawsuit tried for days to subpoena Attorney General Ken Paxton before sending a process server to his home Monday, and notified his office that their server was there before Paxton fled … Continue reading →

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In case you needed a clear example of the moral depravity of the “right to life” movement

Posted on October 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

So a couple of days ago State Sen. Robert Nichols, who has a consistent anti-abortion voting record, said at the Texas Tribune Festival that he would be willing to add a rape exception to Texas’ extremely strict forced birth laws. … Continue reading →

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CCA tells Paxton again that he’s not the supreme prosecutor

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good, but this isn’t over. It just means that the fight will have shifted. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s last-ditch attempt to regain the power of his office to unilaterally prosecute election cases was rejected by the state’s highest criminal … Continue reading →

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The hearing that Paxton was trying to flee from

Posted on September 29, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s about whether the First Amendment rights of abortion funds have been abridged by threats of prosecution from people like Ken Paxton. You know, no big deal. Leaders of Texas’ most prominent abortion funds on Tuesday implored a federal judge … Continue reading →

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Run, Kenny, run!

Posted on September 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Peak Ken Paxton. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home in a truck driven by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, to avoid being served a subpoena Monday, according to an affidavit filed in federal court. Ernesto Martin Herrera, a … Continue reading →

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The limitations of Plan B

Posted on September 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A helpful and timely explainer from the Associated Press. WHAT ARE EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTIVES? Emergency contraceptives are used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex or if a method of birth control fails. Two types of medications, sometimes referred to as “morning … Continue reading →

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There are many variables affecting what might happen with abortion law in Texas

Posted on September 26, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Another way to put this: What can Beto do as Governor with a Republican legislature to make abortion laws less bad in Texas? Toward the end of a virtual campaign event last month, one of Beto O’Rourke’s supporters asked how … Continue reading →

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Enough with the “pregnant lady in the HOV lane” schtick

Posted on September 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Nothing good comes of this. Please stop. When a pregnant North Texas woman was pulled over for driving alone in a high-occupancy vehicle lane, she protested. “I just felt that there were two of us in [the car] and I … Continue reading →

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DMN/UT-Tyler: Abbott 47, Beto 38

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Insert shrug emoji here, and insert link to the unreadable DMN story here. I’ll give you the main results of interest and then a few comments after that. Abbott 47, Beto 38 Patrick 39, Collier 28 Paxton 37, Garza 30 … Continue reading →

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State delays report on maternal mortality until next year

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Sorry, didn’t get to it, other things to do, you know. Texas health officials have missed a key window to complete the state’s first major updated count of pregnancy related deaths in nearly a decade, saying the findings will now … Continue reading →

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UT/Texas Politics Project poll: Abbott 45, Beto 40

Posted on September 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Feels kind of familiar. Gov. Greg Abbott leads his Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke by 5 percentage points, according to a new poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. The survey found that Abbott received … Continue reading →

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Republicans propose nationwide abortion ban

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It was ever thus. Republicans are struggling with the backlash against the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and a series of Republican-controlled states instituting harsh abortion bans. Voters are angry, and that anger has contributed to a reduction in … Continue reading →

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Let’s not go overboard about these voter registration numbers

Posted on September 12, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Sure it’s nice to see, but a little perspective is in order. In Texas, it’s not just women who are fired up about access to abortion and registering to vote in large numbers following this summer’s historic Supreme Court decision … Continue reading →

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National support for abortion rights on the rise

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s pretty high in this poll. Voters have grown more supportive of legalizing abortion following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, with a clear majority opposing restrictions, like bans at a certain point of pregnancy or barring women from traveling to … Continue reading →

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The easy and obvious case against Sid Miller

Posted on September 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Chron business columnist Chris Tomlinson writes a 95% good column about ol’ Sid. Sid Miller appeared genuinely surprised when during floor debate over his 2011 bill requiring a sonogram before an abortion, Rep. Carol Alvarado brandished the foot-long probe a doctor would … Continue reading →

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