Convenience Big Store: Harrowing testimony about the Texas abortion ban

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Legal challenge to abortion law continues

The legal fight over Texas's abortion ban is far from over.

That was clear this week as five women gave harrowing testimony before a state district court about the repercussions of being denied access to an abortion. In one case detailed by reporter Taylor Goldenstein, a woman struggled to tell the story of how she was forced to deliver her baby with a rare, deadly birth defect.

At the core of the case is the Texas abortion ban's exception, which allows the procedure only when there is a "substantial" risk to a mother or if a fetus has a fatal diagnosis.

But given the state's stiff penalties for anyone who violates the ban — they face potential prison sentences and the loss of their medical licenses — many doctors and hospitals have been fearful of immediately intervening even when there is a clear danger.

"These women all wanted to have children, and they suffered unimaginable tragedy," said Molly Duane, an attorney for the plaintiffs with the Center for Reproductive Rights, during the hearing Wednesday. "But the harms that these women suffered in seeking medical care were all directly caused by the state's ban on abortion."

Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter

jeremy.wallace@houstonchronicle.com

Who's up, who's down

Up: Buc-ee's.

The Texas gas station is a popular stop for Texas politicians. Edward McKinley breaks down which campaigns spent the most at the popular highway stops.

Down: Direct flights to D.C.

Despite a big push from Texas members of Congress, The Hill reports legislation to allow more direct flights from Texas cities to Reagan National Airport failed.

What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.

What else is going on in Texas

FILE - Voters wait in line at a polling place at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in Austin, Texas, on election night Nov. 8, 2022. Midterm voters under 30 went 53% for Democrats compared to 41% for Republicans nationwide. That was down from such voters supporting President Joe Biden over his predecessor, Donald Trump, by a 61% to 36% in 2020, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping national survey of voters in November's election. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File)

Photo by: Jay Janner/Associated Press

Pick of the day

Photo by: Jeremy Wallace

That's the number of Texas student loan borrowers who still stand to get relief despite a recent Supreme Court decision that invalidated President Joe Biden's broader student loan relief law.

What else I'm reading

Texas Monthly looks at how the state's growing South Asian population is a big reason cricket fields have been sprouting up around the state and why Grand Prairie became a key piece of the Major League Cricket league that started this month.