The number, possibly an undercount, underscores the effect of blocking the procedure for one of the state’s most vulnerable populations.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says the Legislature should amend the language of the state's near-total abortion ban to address confusion over when doctors may terminate pregnancies.

Texas abortion restrictions are among the strictest in the nation, banning the procedure unless a pregnant person has a "life-threatening condition."

"I do think that 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 Sunday on WFAA's "Inside Texas Politics" after he was asked whether he expected "any significant abortion legislation,

Patients and doctors have said the ban's only exception is so vague and the penalties are so steep that providers are reluctant to perform emergency abortions.

“I think it’s clear, but I’m also open to the idea that some doctors don’t see it that way, some hospitals don’t think that way,” said Patrick, a Republican who presides over the Texas Senate. “We don’t want to stand in the way of that, but we’re not going to open it up so that abortion is prevalent again in the state.”

Amanda Zurawski, who nearly died after being denied an abortion, has been fighting to clarify the medical exception to Texas law for years. For the first time, Republicans might be willing to take up the issue.

Texas’ abortion restrictions have forced the closure of clinics that also provide contraceptive services and sex education.

“We’re mailing a lot to Texas,” said Jay Lynch, who handles most of the packaging and postage for Her Safe Harbor, an abortion-drug-by-mail service spearheaded by his wife. Debra ...

The Republican-led states of Idaho, Missouri and Kansas can proceed with a lawsuit seeking to restrict the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone in the United States, a federal judge in Texas ruled on Thursday.

A Texas judge has allowed three states to move forward with a legal challenge seeking to impose stricter rules on the abortion pill mifepristone, reigniting the battle over medication abortion access in the U.

The states want the federal Food and Drug Administration to prohibit telehealth prescriptions for mifepristone and require that it be used only in the first seven weeks of pregnancy instead of the current limit of 10 weeks.