Another woman, Ashley Brandt, testified that when she was 12 weeks pregnant with twins, one of the babies was diagnosed with acrania, a fatal condition in which the skull fails to fuse. When the baby’s heart stopped, doctors told her, it would likely trigger labor, causing the healthy twin to die, as well. She traveled out of state to abort the stricken baby and gave birth to the healthy one, the court decision states. 

Another woman, Samantha Casiano, lamented having to carry to term her baby girl who was diagnosed 20 weeks into the pregnancy with anencephaly, a condition in which the baby lacks a major portion of the brain and therefore is unable to live more than a short time after birth. The baby died four hours after delivery, the decision says. 

Piecemeal challenges 

Texas outlawed abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, sending abortion law back to legislatures and state referendums. Since then, abortion supporters have tried to chip away at the law. 

Last year, The Center for Reproductive Rights, which supports abortion, filed a lawsuit challenging the law on behalf of several women who experienced severe pregnancy complications, and three doctors. 

The state’s Human Life Protection Act allows an abortion if doctors using “reasonable medical judgment” determine that a pregnant woman “has a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced.” 

In August 2023, a Travis County district court judge in Austin, the state capital, issued a short-lived injunction that sought to offer doctors a “good faith judgment” exception. This would allow abortions in cases where a pregnancy complication “poses a risk of infection or otherwise makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe for the pregnant person,” where “a condition exacerbated by pregnancy … cannot be effectively treated during pregnancy,” and where “a fetal condition where the fetus is unlikely to survive the pregnancy and sustain life after birth.” 

The state’s abortion statute does not contain such exceptions. 

During oral arguments in November 2023, a state supreme court justice asked a lawyer from the state attorney general’s office defending the state’s anti-abortion law if the statute’s requirement that doctors use “reasonable medical judgment” to determine if an abortion is necessary doesn’t put doctors in a tough situation. 

The lawyer said no. 

“They are allowed to use reasonable medical judgment, which is presumably the judgment they use when treating a patient in any given circumstance. And so the option, I guess, facing the legislature — you could either draw a line and allow them to use their reasonable medical judgment, or you can do what the trial court did and essentially eliminate the line so that there really will never be a circumstance in which a woman is unable to obtain an abortion,” said Assistant State Attorney General Beth Klusmann. 

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“And so, there are always going to be harder calls at the edge of that line, but the only other option is to eliminate the line entirely,” she said. 

The case, which was decided Friday, May 31, is known as State of Texas v. Zurawski. 

AUSTIN, Texas — Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville, is the second member to challenge Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, to lead the chamber.

In a letter to House Republicans, she said she’s grown disappointed in the mismanagement of Phelan and his inner circle. Slawson joins state Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, who was the first to announce a challenge to Phelan.  

Phelan narrowly survived a runoff challenge from the GOP’s hard right this week. But more than a dozen incumbents lost to hard-right challengers.  

Last month 23 state representatives and GOP candidates signed what they called a “Contract With Texas.” The document includes a list of conservative reforms they’d like to see in the House, including no Democrats serving as committee chairs.  

Other House Republicans have signed the document since its inception, but seven of the original signees won their primary runoff Tuesday. Twenty will be on November’s ballot during the general election and less than half have Democratic opponents.

Some political experts expect the hardline conservative influence to be a strong force when the legislative session begins in January, estimating Republicans will only have 10 votes they can ignore and still have a majority. 

“It also means that a handful of Republicans can hold the body hostage because Democrats are not going to support far-right policies and there aren’t going to be enough Republicans if there’s enough very conservative Republicans saying no for the Republican Party to actually pass anything. They’ll have a majority on paper, but not in reality,” said Brian Smith, a professor of political sciences at St. Edward’s University.  

Many of these hardline conservatives also want to see Rep. Dade Phelan removed from his position as House speaker. If a majority of House Republicans can’t agree on leadership, experts don’t expect many bills to be successful.

Shows within the Yellowstone universe aren’t just bring quality TV to viewers. The productions themselves are also bringing millions of dollars to the cities they shoot in.

The second season of 1923, the spinoff program on Paramount+ featuring the legendary Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, is set to shoot in Austin this summer. It’s expected that the show will be shooting on location from July through September.

That’s exciting for many different reasons. First, that means more episodes of the Yellowstone prequel series are coming sooner rather than later. Talk about great news for fans of the show, who have probably been left waiting for basically anything Yellowstone related to come out amid the lengthy delays of the main show’s fifth and final season.

And secondly, with 1923 leaving Montana for Texas (they also filmed parts of Season 1 in Africa and Malta), and shooting on site in Austin, Texas, for an extended period of time, the production is going to bring in a lot of money to the city of Austin. How much, you might be asking? Well, the Austin American-Statesman ran the numbers and gave this projection:

“The production of season two of the Paramount+ show ‘1923’ will pump more than $51 million into Austin’s economy from wages, hotel stays and other local services, the city of Austin estimates.”

The first season of the western drama was shot in Montana. But now, Austin, Texas is getting into the mix, and the city will benefit substantially because of it. The city of Austin will be providing small incentives to King Street Productions Inc. (the production company running the show) to hire local workers, which in turn rolls into a “0.5% return on the total of local wages paid by the production company.”

Jeremy Martin, the President and CEO of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, was thrilled that the incentive was approved and that 1923 filming in Austin could open the door for other future productions in the thriving Texas city:

“We’re excited by the prospect of adding to our creative and film industries. We strongly support projects that qualify for the City’s Economic Development Policy and provide a positive return to taxpayers.”

So it seems that there is good news all around. Austin, Texas gets an economy boost from the popular show, and the rest of us get to see the 1923 storyline continue.

That’s basically the textbook definition of a win-win scenario, isn’t it?