Women's Healthcare Update- 5/16/23
By
Joleen E Smith
Posted: 2023-05-15T20:56:25Z
By Catherine Maxwell, LWVTX Issue Chair for Women's Healthcare and Reproductive Rights
The last day of this session of the Legislature is May 29th. The Governor has until June 18th to veto or sign legislation. Consequently, action on bills is heating up.
SB 490, setting an administrative penalty if patients don’t receive itemized bills, has been handed to the Governor. Also, on his desk is HB 1575, which outlines actions to be taken by “alternatives to abortion” organizations in their support of children and pregnant women. The bill also delineates some requirements for the professionalism of personnel providing that support.
HB 12, twelve months of postpartum care for pregnant mothers on Medicaid, is schedule for a hearing in Senate committee for May 16th. If this bill does not pass, these patients will only receive two months of after birth care. Fifty percent of the babies born in Texas are born on Medicaid. These mothers include college students, the unemployed, the underemployed, those employed in small businesses and the list goes on and on. This bill is deemed necessary to lower Texas’s embarrassingly high postpartum mortality rate for mothers. Please reach out to your senator and express support for HB 12. You can find an action alert for HB 12 in the LWVTX Take Action! Center to make it simple to add your voice to the passage of this bill.
You should also be able to find an action alert on SB 1195. LWVTX opposes this bill, which would give the Attorney General authority to require local prosecutors to report on their investigations under the Election and Health and Safety codes. If no charges are filed within six months, the AG is required to step into the local jurisdiction and proceed with the prosecution. I’m reporting on this because the Health and Safety Code includes abortion a crime, and this gives the AG power to override local considerations. The bill passed through the Senate and is now in House committee. Again, please add your voice to others opposing this bill.
Finally, HB 300, the “pink tax” bill has passed through the House and is now in Senate committee. This bill removes taxes on feminine hygiene products as well as adult and baby diapers.