Zurawski v. Texas

The Center for Reproductive Rights filed Zurawski v. Texas, a groundbreaking lawsuit asking the state of Texas to clarify the scope of the “medical emergency” exceptions under its abortion bans.

The case, filed in state court in Austin, is the first lawsuit brought on behalf of women denied abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022.

‘I Don’t Want To Die’: Texas Patients Are Afraid to Get Pregnant

PUBLISHED 7/15/2026 by

The fear of losing their lives is precisely what many pregnant Texas residents say they’ve experienced after four young women died in the state when they were unable to access medically necessary abortions.

Three died while doctors delayed their care for hours as they miscarried. Another, Tierra Walker, was 20 weeks pregnant and suffered from soaring blood pressure that had required multiple hospitalizations, yet was given no option for what would have been a lifesaving abortion by any of the 90 doctors who examined her.

She died in bed of preeclampsia, a serious, persistent high blood pressure disorder, and was found by her son on his 14th birthday.

Two of the dead women were also already moms, while another, Nevaeh Crain, was just 18 and expecting her first baby when she died of an infection while miscarrying. Crain had been sent home by two hospitals in the hours before her death, and a third delayed care while they waited to confirm that her fetus had no heartbeat.

These deaths and near-deaths have created an atmosphere where “100% of my patients are afraid” of experiencing complications in their pregnancies, said Dallas OB-GYN Dr. Austin Dennard. “It’s an extra stress to every stage of pregnancy. These laws are stealing the joy out of pregnancy.”

“Women are afraid to get pregnant in Texas. There is a pervasive unease with pregnancy. Women in their 40s with high-risk pregnancies are very afraid. Those pregnancies are fraught with difficulties,” she said.

Dobbs Has Triggered Widespread Discrimination in Non-Reproductive Healthcare

PUBLISHED 11/18/2025 by

In the years since Roe was overturned, physicians across a wide range of medical specialties have described how abortion bans are undermining their ability to follow evidence-based standards of care. Dermatologists, oncologists, neurologists, cardiologists and others told Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) that they are regularly forced to alter treatment plans, delay urgent care or avoid prescribing the most effective medications simply because those treatments could harm a pregnancy. These constraints are creating a chilling effect that reaches far beyond reproductive health and into the everyday practice of medicine.

As PHR’s Michele Heisler and Payal Shah explained, abortion bans are also fueling discriminatory care. Reproductive-age women are routinely denied the best available treatments, while men with the same conditions face no such barriers. Even within the group of reproductive-age women, clinicians are making decisions based on subjective judgments about a patient’s “contraceptive reliability”—a practice that opens the door to bias and disproportionately harms marginalized patients.

This two-tiered system of care is not hypothetical: It is already shaping medical decision-making in ban states, with dangerous consequences for patients’ health and lives.

‘Worse Than War’: A Texas Couple Was Forced to Flee the State for Essential Care—Twice

PUBLISHED 10/3/2025 by

Hollie Cunningham’s family suffered incredible loss during two pregnancies. The mother of two was forced to flee Texas to get the care she needed, as she explains below in an interview with Courier Texas writer Bonnie Fuller.

“I didn’t really know about Texas’ abortion bans. I had always figured that if something were to go wrong with my pregnancy, my doctor would be able to do what she needed to take care of me.

Texas’ SB 31 Could Loosen the State’s Abortion Ban in Life-Threatening Cases. Doctors Say It’s Still Not Enough.

PUBLISHED 6/4/2025 by

Will a new bill in Texas stop the shocking number of deaths of pregnant women in the Lone Star State? That’s the hope of both Democratic and Republican supporters of SB 31, also known as the Life of the Mother Act. The bill is headed to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott for signature and there is a strong expectation that he will sign it.

The goal of SB 31, which gathered broad bipartisan support, is to finally respond to the pressure to provide clarity about legal medical exceptions, allowing Texas doctors to perform lifesaving abortions and D&C (dilation and curettage) procedures on pregnant and miscarrying women in need of medical care. Supporters say they believe SB 31 will save the lives of pregnant women—yet many doctors still report uncertainty, and reproductive freedom advocates say the bill does not go far enough to address the loss of bodily autonomy suffered by women in the state.

Blueprint for Nationwide Abortion Pill Crackdown Falters in Texas

PUBLISHED 5/12/2025 by | UPDATED 8/12/2025 at 9:52 A.M. PT

In Texas, the state Senate just opened yet another door to women being criminally prosecuted for obtaining an abortion … even in a different state. Authored by Sen. Bryan Hughes, Senate Bill 2880—titled the “Women and Child Protection Act”—just passed in the Senate. It ushers in a currently dormant 1925 abortion ban and would be the first law in the country to allow pregnant women to be prosecuted for receiving abortion care.

“The most egregious point of SB 2880 is that it quietly revives Texas’ pre-Roe abortion ban by explicitly incorporating the 1925 law into the bill’s definition of criminal abortion law,” said Sen. Carol Alvarado, a Houston Democrat.

‘I Thought Only First Pregnancies Could Go Bad’: When Allie Phillips’ Lawmaker Dismissed Her, She Decided to Run for His Seat

PUBLISHED 4/22/2025 by

“I decided to meet with my district representative in the state legislature,” said Allie Phillips. Her idea was a bill she’d called “Miley’s Law”—named after the child she’d lost—which would create an exception in Tennessee’s abortion ban allowing for the termination of pregnancies when the fetus has a fatal diagnosis. 

She said the meeting with her lawmaker, Republican Rep. Jeff Burkhart, was disturbing. “I quickly learned that these [Republican] lawmakers don’t know anything about reproductive care. He was confused because I had had a healthy first pregnancy, and then lost my second one. He told me, ‘I thought only first pregnancies could go bad.’”

Burkhart, a 63-year-old father, told Allie he’d set up a meeting for her with the state’s attorney general—but never followed through. 

“After that, my mom said, ‘Maybe you should run against him,’” Allie said. “And then my TikTok followers started to say the same thing.”

Texas Issued New Abortion Guidance for Doctors. Questions Remain.

PUBLISHED 4/22/2025 by | UPDATED 6/22/2026 at 10:19 A.M. PT

A group of Texas women denied life-saving healthcare during their wanted pregnancies are feeling “cautiously optimistic” and “hopeful” after meeting with state legislators and urging changes to an abortion-related bill currently working its way through the legislature.

These women have been telling their devastating stories of life and loss for years. So why are they just starting to break through and spur legislative action from Republican lawmakers now?

“You have to keep repeating it. And so as painful as it is for me to relive those days and to relive my story, I will continue to do it for my daughter.”

The War on Women Report: Women Jailed for Miscarriages, Dragged from Town Halls, and Denied Healthcare

PUBLISHED 3/29/2025 by and

MAGA Republicans are back in the White House, and Project 2025 is their guide—the right-wing plan to turn back the clock on women’s rights, remove abortion access, and force women into roles as wives and mothers in the “ideal, natural family structure.” We know an empowered female electorate is essential to democracy. That’s why day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

Since our last report:
—At a town hall in Idaho, men from a private security firm grabbed Teresa Borrenpohl and forcibly dragged her from the room.
—Georgia relaunched a new maternal mortality committee, but will not reveal who the new members are.
—In a win for Montana, a district court permanently blocked multiple restrictions that would have effectively eliminated abortion access for most patients on Medicaid.

… and more.