1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I strongly oppose Senate Bill 31, which presents itself as a clarification of medical exceptions to Texas’s near-total abortion ban, but in reality, it further endangers pregnant people, undermines physician autonomy, and continues to criminalize essential medical care. While SB 31 purports to provide clearer guidance for when abortion may be permitted to save a pregnant patient’s life or prevent major bodily harm, it is riddled with vague, overly burdensome, and medically unnecessary provisions that will have a chilling effect on care. The bill reinforces and expands a legal framework in which physicians must second-guess medical decisions under threat of prosecution, while patients are forced to suffer through life-threatening complications as doctors wait for their conditions to deteriorate enough to legally intervene. Key reasons for opposition: 1. It still prioritizes the fetus over the patient’s life and health. SB 31 demands that care be delivered “in a manner that… provides the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive,” unless this would increase risk to the pregnant person. This framing subordinates the patient’s health to that of the fetus, even in life-threatening situations, and adds confusion about how to balance those interests. Medical judgment should prioritize the patient without fear of legal consequences. 2. It will not prevent suffering — it codifies it. Texas’s existing abortion bans have already led to horrifying stories of women being forced to wait until their conditions became dire to receive care. This bill will not change that. It maintains the same legal ambiguity that caused delay and suffering, and it doesn’t protect doctors who act early to prevent catastrophe — only those who act after deterioration is undeniable. 3. It treats physicians as criminals, not healers. Though the bill adds “exceptions” for doctors who act in a medical emergency, it does not truly decriminalize necessary abortion care. Doctors are still operating under threat of criminal charges, loss of license, and civil lawsuits. The bill assumes bad faith, not professional expertise, and will discourage physicians from practicing in Texas or offering obstetric care at all. 4. It creates new bureaucratic burdens under the guise of “education.” SB 31 requires mandatory continuing education for doctors and lawyers on abortion law, but this isn’t about learning — it’s about surveillance and fear. These efforts distract from clinical training and prioritize legal compliance over patient well-being. 5. It offers no real protection for patients. Nowhere does this bill affirm the right of a pregnant person to decide what risks they are willing to take with their body. Instead, it subjects them to vague standards of “reasonable medical judgment,” filtered through a legal system already hostile to reproductive freedom.