By Katherine Blunt
Houston Chronicle
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Dr. Nora Klein was among about two dozen Houston doctors, activists and aspiring politicians who gathered last week to speak out against legislative proposals that would further limit access to abortion across the state and impose new requirements on doctors who perform the procedure.
Houston Chronicle
Dr. Nora Klein’s cheeks flushed with emotion as she took the podium Saturday to recall a historic moment that shaped her view on women’s reproductive rights.
She was in medical school in New York, working in obstetrics and gynecology in an emergency room, when news broke that the state legislature had voted to allow abortion in a stunning decision issued three years before Roe v. Wade legalized the practice nationwide.
At last, she thought, women in New York would no longer have to resort to self-induced procedures or other acts of desperation that could hospitalize them with sepsis or severe bleeding.
“My bottom line is access to health care,” she said.
That decision, in her mind, stands in philosophical opposition to a series of bills recently introduced in the Texas Legislature’s special session.
She was among about two dozen Houston doctors, activists and aspiring politicians that gathered Saturday at the Montrose Center to speak out against legislative proposals that would further limit access to abortion across the state and impose new requirements on doctors who perform the procedure.
Critical of 4 bills
They criticized Senate Bill 8, which would require women to buy supplemental health insurance plans in order to cover abortion procedures other than those deemed medical emergencies. Supporters of the bill argue that people opposed to abortion should not be required to purchase insurance plans that account for such procedures.
But Hannah Thalenberg, a Houston activist with NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, argued that such a measure would require women to preemptively select more expensive insurance plans they might never require, potentially adding to the cost of health care and restricting abortion access for those without the designated coverage.
“This is eye-opening in the sense of economic discrimination,” she said. “It impedes people who can’t pay for abortion out of pocket.”
They took similar issue with Senate Bills 10 and 73. The former would require physicians to report more detailed personal information to the state health commission about patients who suffered complications during abortion procedures, while the latter would require them to report why minors sought abortions and whether they obtained parental consent or judicial bypass.
They also voiced opposition to Senate Bill 4, which prohibits Texas governmental agencies from contracting with affiliates of abortion providers. Such a measure would affect Planned Parenthood, which provides health care services at clinics separate from the facilities where it performs abortions.
Dr. Shannon Westin, a physician at MD Anderson Cancer Center who provides women’s health care, noted that any effort to undercut Planned Parenthood or other clinics could undermine access to preventive health care including the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine and Pap smears.
Already, she said, she sees a number of patients with cervical cancer and other reproductive issues who could have been helped with earlier screenings.
“These things can be prevented,” she said. “It’s unreasonable and unconscionable that we are creating these bills that are going to increase the level of cervical cancer and increase the level of other cancers here.”
Praise for clinic
Ann Rosenwinkle, a Houston resident, attested to the importance of Planned Parenthood for her daughter, who visited the clinic when she missed her period. A nurse assessed a hormonal imbalance that doctors traced to a tumor on her pituitary gland. She had surgery earlier this year.
“That would not have been caught, I don’t think, without the help of Planned Parenthood,” she said.
Dr. Dona Murphey, a Houston neurologist, addressed several pieces of legislation that would expand the role of task force assigned to investigate the state’s maternal mortality rate, which increased considerably between 2010 and 2014, according to several recent studies.
During that time, Murphey noted, the Texas lawmakers cut state funding for women’s health care providers that also performed abortions. Many clinics across the state closed as a result.
“The correlation in time is so tightly linked that it may actually be the cause of the changes in maternal mortality that we’ve seen,” she said.
Klein, now a pediatrician in the Houston area, said women’s reproductive care is necessary for childbirth free of complications. She now sees a large number of mothers who didn’t have access to prenatal care, which reduces the risk of preeclampsia and other pregnancy issues.
“Health clinics are so critical,” she said. “It’s also the reason that access to safe and legal abortion remains so important.’
