Women march through downtown San Antonio during a 2022 protest against Texas’ abortion ban. Credit: Jaime Monzon

People who faced grave medical risks from Texas’ draconian abortion ban are calling on state lawmakers to clarify language about when a doctor is legally allowed to perform an abortion to remove a mother from imminent danger.

“There’s a lot of ignorance that goes into people doubling down on [the idea that] the law is fine. The law is not fine,” Ryan Hamilton — a Texas resident who found his wife passed out on the floor after being denied an abortion — said during a Tuesday press briefing.

“We will all tell you how not fine the law is because we’ve been through it, and we’ve had doctors deny the service that my wife needed … because they’re afraid of the vagueness of the law and the consequences they’re going to have to face.”

The press call — organized by abortion advocacy group Free & Just — included speakers who, despite having life-threatening complications, were denied the option to terminate their pregnancies because doctors feared the ban would leave them open to prosecution.

“I was waiting for either the baby’s heart to stop or for myself to get so sick that I deserved care,” Texas abortion advocate Amanda Zurawski said. “It took three days between when I was diagnosed and when I met the criteria — which was when I went into septic shock.”

Zurawski, along with 21 other plaintiffs denied abortions in the aftermath of Texas’ ban, sued the state in 2023. She argued that she was denied the right to end her pregnancy despite dilating prematurely at 18 weeks.

Due to the prolonged waiting period between when she began dilating and when the procedure was performed, Zurawksi said she can no longer have children. She also suffered permanent damage to her reproductive organs.

During a Sunday appearance on Dallas TV station WFAA’s Inside Texas Politics, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick agreed that Texas’ abortion ban should include clearer parameters for when the procedure can be legally used.

“I do think we need to clarify any language so that doctors are not in fear of being penalized if they think the life of the mother is at risk,” Patrick said.

A former conservative talk show host and outspoken abortion opponent, Patrick is the state’s first high-profile elected Republican to call for clarifying the law, which went into effect in August 2022.

Under Texas law, abortions can only be performed if a patient is at risk of death or “substantial impairment of a major bodily function” unless the procedure is carried out. The law also requires the physician to try to save the life of the fetus, unless that would increase the risk of death or impairment to the patient.

Even so, “substantial impairment of a major bodily function” isn’t defined under Texas’ abortion ban. Additionally, the measure doesn’t take into account the psychological damage of giving birth to a suffering child, as was the case with Samantha Casiano.

During Tuesday’s call, Casiano said she was forced to give birth to her fifth child, Halo, even though the fetus had been diagnosed with Anencephaly, a condition that prevents the full development of the brain and skull.

“Instead of giving my daughter compassion and mercy, I was forced to give birth to her,” Casiano said. “When she was born, her eyes started to bleed. She was gasping for air. The four hours that she was here, she was in agony. She suffered, and that’s something that no family should ever have to go through.”

Further, Casiano and other advocates warned Tuesday that local governments in Texas could continue to enact ordinances making it more difficult for people to seek safe abortions.

In November, Amarillo voters struck down a proposal that would have made it illegal to use local roads to obtain out-of-state abortion care. The measure failed by about 20%.

“I think the slate of things they will propose [under Trump] has no limit, and we’ve got to stay vigilant,” Zurawksi said. “Those are the things we can do — putting pressure on our city councils, on our mayors, on our state legislators and really pay attention to what they’re advocating for, or against, and making sure we push back.”

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This article appears in Jan 8-21, 2025.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...