Texas Legislative Session Provides Opportunity to Undo Damage from Abortion Ban

Texas Legislative Session Provides Opportunity to Undo Damage from Abortion Ban

Jan. 10, 2023 (Austin, TX) – With the opening of the Texas Legislature today, the physicians of Women’s Health Domain are monitoring bills related to abortion access.

“Every day, we see the harmful impacts of Texas’ abortion ban on our patients, and we hope lawmakers will pass legislation this session to allow exceptions to the ban and to protect the patient-physician relationship,” said Amy Chapman, M.D., co-owner and obstetrician/gynecologist, Women’s Health Domain.

“As obstetrician-gynecologists practicing for more than two decades in Texas, we are deeply concerned about access to timely, medically necessary reproductive and gynecological care not just for our patients but for anyone needing them,” said Tyler Handcock, M.D., co-owner and obstetrician/gynecologist, Women’s Health Domain.

Following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last summer, Women’s Health Domain saw a significant increase in the number of patients seeking permanent sterilization. The practice has also seen patients needing medications for non-pregnancy, non-abortion-related procedures denied access to those medications because they are also used for abortions. 

Among the abortion-related bills already filed that Chapman and Handcock support: 

• House Bill 979 by Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) and Senate Bill 122 by Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) to allow abortions for pregnancy resulting from sexual assault.
• Senate Bill 123 by Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) to allow abortions when in the physician’s best medical judgment, an abortion is necessary to preserve a pregnant patient’s life or physical or mental health or is requested because of a lethal or life-limiting fetal anomaly or diagnosis.
• House Joint Resolution 56 by Rep. James Talarico (D-Round Rock) to place a constitutional amendment on the November 2023 ballot for voter approval to limit the Legislature’s ability to prohibit abortion.

“The state’s abortion ban is extreme. As physicians, we have a duty to advocate not just for our patients but for anyone needing reproductive health care,” added Chapman.

“The bills filed so far to loosen the abortion ban are essential to protect the patient-physician relationship and for us to be able to care for our patients as they expect and deserve,” added Handcock.

ABOUT WOMEN’S HEALTH DOMAIN

Women’s Health Domain is a private obstetrics and gynecology practice in North Austin. The practice includes four obstetrician/gynecologists and a family nurse practitioner. Learn more and book an appointment with us here.