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Committee hears SB 31 to clarify 'life of the mother' medical-emergency exception
Summary
The Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs heard testimony on SB 31, the "Life of the Mother" bill, which would unify statutory definitions of a medical emergency, add physician and attorney education requirements, and create procedural protections for clinicians treating pregnancy complications; the bill was left pending.
Senator Hughes, chair of the Committee on State Affairs and the author of Senate Bill 31, told the committee the bill is intended to remove ambiguity for physicians treating pregnancy complications that threaten a mother's life or major bodily function. “When the mother is in danger, that is an exception that Texas has always recognized,” Hughes said as he laid out the measure and invited testimony.
Supporters told the committee they backed SB 31 as a clarification rather than an expansion of exceptions to Texas' abortion prohibitions. Jennifer Allman, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, said the bill aims to align older statutes with modern medical practice and to give patients “security that their health and life will be respected…
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