Texas’ strict abortion laws have hampered the state’s doctors, leaving them unable to provide comprehensive maternity care to pregnant women, according to Dr. Emily Briggs, an obstetrician and family physician who works in central Texas. Texas.

To date, no doctors have been prosecuted for violating the ban, which is now a crime, but the confusing and inconsistent law has doctors worried about how they interact with their patients. Briggs calls this a “dangerous situation.”

“Because personally, as a family doctor, I could lose my license, I could be sentenced to life in prison, I could face huge fines, just for having a conversation with my patient about evidence-based care,” she said.

How Texas Abortion Laws Impacted Medical Care

Twenty states, including Texas, have banned or severely restricted abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Violating Texas’ abortion law is considered a felony.

Prior to the 2022 ruling, Texas, under SB-8, had banned abortion at six weeks with no exceptions for rape, incest or severe fetal abnormalities. There was an exception for medical emergencies, but the bill did not define what that was.

In 2022, Texas enacted another, more restrictive law banning all abortions at conception except when the mother’s life was in immediate danger.

The prospect of facing lawsuits has sparked such fear that today most Texas hospitals require doctors to consult attorneys when dealing with complicated pregnancies and miscarriages.

Leave Texas to train, practice elsewhere

Dr. Briggs said she has heard from colleagues, obstetricians and family doctors, who no longer want to practice in Texas. Last year, the number of obstetrics and gynecology resident applicants in Texas fell by 16%.

“Future obstetricians recognize the complexity of the rules in Texas,” Briggs said. “Not only do they not want to train here, but that also means they won’t want to train here.”

Dr. Adrianne Smith was transferred from Texas to the University of New Mexico Hospital last year.

One of her final cases in Texas still haunts her: a young woman who became extremely ill after trying to end her own pregnancy with an unknown drug she purchased in Mexico.

Smith discussed the case with a supervising physician.

“He looked at me and said, ‘The attorney general is trying to make an example of someone. And you don’t want to be like that,'” Smith said.

She said it made her realize that people were seeking to criminalize her professional actions and send her to prison.

OB-GYN training impacted by Texas law

In Texas, residents are now missing the opportunity to learn about several forms of care for pregnant women, according to Dr. Eve Espey, chair of the OB-GYN department at the University of New Mexico.

“They don’t have the opportunity to learn how to treat trauma… how to diagnose pregnancy complications in the first and second trimester,” she said. “They’re missing the learning… miscarriage care, ectopic pregnancy care, pregnancies of unknown location. I mean, the list goes on.”

These are part of the training required to become a certified obstetrician-gynecologist anywhere in the United States, but in Texas, some training is no longer offered due to new laws. That means obstetrics-gynecology residents now must leave the state for two- to four-week rotations to get the required training.

That’s not enough time, according to Espey.

“Our residents have a dedicated rotation the first year, the fourth year. But they work alongside us throughout their four years of residency,” she said.

Back in Texas, Briggs urges lawmakers to work with doctors. She worries about what she thinks will happen if nothing changes.

“We’re losing doctors in Texas, we’re losing healthy mothers, we’re losing families in general. It’s already scary to decide to get pregnant,” she said. “Added to that is the fact that if something medically complex were to happen, you could lose your life and not get the care you deserve. Why would anyone stay for that?”