AUSTIN, Texas — The decision by the Texas Medical Board came less than a month after the state Supreme Court upheld the law that had been challenged by doctors and a group of women who argued it stopped them from getting medical care even when their pregnancies became dangerous.The board’s refusal to adopt specific exemptions to the Texas abortion ban was not a surprise.
And it echoed the state Supreme Court’s ruling that a doctor does not have to wait until there is a medical emergency to perform an abortion to save the life or protect the health of the mother.Texas law prohibits abortions except when a pregnant patient has a life-threatening condition. A doctor convicted of providing an illegal abortion in Texas can face up to 99 years in prison, a $100,000 fine and lose their medical license.