Republican lawmakers who voted to ban abortion in Texas say they’re committed to protecting the health of pregnant women who are now forced to bear children under the state’s extreme and punitive new law.
Count us skeptical, considering that Texas suffers persistently dismal health outcomes for women and children after two full decades of Republican control of the legislature and governor’s office. However, if Gov. Greg Abbott and his abortion-banning allies in the House and Senate truly want to demonstrate that their concern for women is real, they’ll get a chance when the Legislature convenes early next year.
That’s when a federal COVID-related public health emergency that enables low-income women in all 50 states to receive a full year of postpartum care under Medicaid is likely to expire, although it could lapse even sooner. Unless the Texas Legislature acts as soon as possible, some Texas women would see their access to postnatal care cut off after just two, or in the best case scenario, six months. It’s outrageous, but hardly unthinkable, that Texas would force pregnant women to give birth, then refuse to pay for their health care.
Regular health checkups for new moms can detect complications that arise from childbirth, and help prevent serious medical conditions from spiraling out of control. Studies show that low-income mothers are especially susceptible to pregnancy-induced hypertension, hemorrhage and infection. Sadly, the problem is especially acute in Texas, which has the seventh-worst maternal death rate in the nation. That pitiful statistic is inexcusable in a state with a $27 billion budget surplus.
Many health experts expect the Biden administration to extend the federal emergency declaration providing for a year of postpartum care as soon as next week, but it will eventually end, most likely by January. That’s when Texas lawmakers will reconvene in Austin for the 88th Legislature. It’s an opportunity for the Legislature to fix its failure in 2021 to provide adequate postpartum health care and prevent potentially deadly repercussions for new mothers.
A bill that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in 2021 only met half of the federal government’s offer to extend health care to poor women after the birth of their children. The Texas House that year approved a full year of care recommended by health experts and the federal government, but the Senate voted to extend it for only six months. The House grudgingly agreed and sent the bill to Abbott. Now, the Department of Health and Human Services is balking at Texas’ extension request because of language in the application that could be interpreted to exclude pregnant women who have abortions, including medically necessary abortions.
Never missing an opportunity to score political points, Abbott accused the Biden administration of “robbing mothers of services” by raising red flags about Texas’ application. The governor’s criticism was all politics, silent on the fact that the Biden administration had offered states a chance to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage to a full year. Had Texas enrolled in the 12-month coverage, as it should have, its application would have sailed through and additional health care would be available for an untold number of mothers who will be forced to carry a fetus to term if they don’t notice that they are pregnant within six weeks of conception.
Whoever wins the Texas governor’s race in November – Abbott or his Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke – must call on the Texas Legislature to authorize a new application to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to extend postpartum health care coverage to Texas women. At least 33 states have already done so.
Rep. Donna Howard, an Austin Democrat who chairs the Texas Women’s Health Caucus, told our editorial board that her Republican colleagues should, at the first opportunity, pass legislation authorizing an application to extend the postpartum care for women for a full year.
“If you’re really prolife, and you’re wanting all these moms to have babies, let’s make sure that they’re healthy and safe, and that they continue to be healthy after they have this baby so they can take care of them,” Howard said.
If Texas lawmakers are going to force poor pregnant women to bear children, no matter their health status, the least they can do is have the state pick up the tab for their medical care. When Texas mothers are left without resources to protect their health, we all lose. It hurts children, employers, taxpayers and entire communities.
Abbott and Texas Republican lawmakers callously stripped pregnant women of the right to choose an abortion. Now, they must step up and help the most vulnerable new mothers stay healthy.
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