A Texas medical panel on Friday approved a set of guidelines for doctors to use in navigating the state’s strict abortion laws, providing clarification around the circumstances when an emergency abortion can be performed legally.
The Texas Medical Board unanimously adopted the guidelines, loosening some abortion-related reporting and documentation rules for physicians and telling doctors they don’t need to wait until a pregnant woman’s death is imminent to carry out an abortion. However, the panel declined to list specific exemptions to the state’s near-total abortion ban.
