AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas medical panel on Friday approved guidance for doctors working under one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans but refused to list specific exceptions to the law, which doctors have complained is dangerously unclear.
The board, however, modified some of the most controversial reporting requirements for doctors, allowing them seven days to submit documentation about why they provided an emergency or medically necessary abortion. Doctors had previously complained they were required to do that before intervening, even during medical emergencies.
The medical board can take away the license of a doctor found to have performed an illegal abortion, and its findings could be used by prosecutors to pursue criminal charges or civil penalties.