Texas Policy Evaluation Project

11/26/2024

The Texas Policy Evaluation Project is now operating as Resound Research for Reproductive Health , fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center. Please find us there for research and news about reproductive health policy, in Texas and beyond.

08/15/2023

✅ Voting is open for ! ✅ Please cast a vote for our fireside chat featuring TxPEP's Kari White and
FiveThirtyEight's Amelia Thomson-Deveaux: Is for Everyone or Experts? Focus on Policy. 📊 📉

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08/04/2023

In TxPEP’s latest publication, "Abortion assistance fund staff and volunteers as patient navigators following an abortion ban in Texas," we highlight the various means of support that abortion funds provide to their callers. Aside from the financial assistance, abortion fund staff and volunteers inform callers about services and resources available. Funds also provide emotional support when callers feel overwhelmed. Texas-based abortion funds often collaborate with other organizations out-of-state to support in callers’ more complex logistical needs and increased costs. Despite all their work, there are still callers who are unable to obtain an abortion because of multiple barriers, including interpersonal violence, even with additional support.

Authors include: Kari White, Ophra Leyser-Whalen, Brooke Whitfield, Asha Dane’el, Alexis Andrea, Anna Rupani, Bhavik Kumar, and Ghazaleh Moayedi

06/27/2023

We deeply acknowledge the need to increase reproductive health access to the LGBTQIA+ community. Let's celebrate and uplift those of us in the LGBTQIA+ community and our friends and family by supporting our human right to evidence-based reproductive healthcare.

06/24/2023

One year ago today, The Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v Wade. For research on how this decision is impacting Texans, follow the link in bio.

06/23/2023

June 24, 2023 marks the one year anniversary since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v Wade--a federal ruling that set the stage for the Texas "trigger ban" on abortion to take effect in late August 2022.

Since the trigger ban went into effect, performing an abortion has been illegal in Texas with medical emergencies being the only exception. However, the term "medical emergency" is ambiguous and leaves physicians worried they will face legal ramifications if they perform an abortion, even if it would save the patient’s life.

Texans are traveling incredibly far distances and paying astronomic costs to pay for abortion care out of state.

People with high-risk or medically complex pregnancies are in more danger because the nearest abortion care facility is hours away--by car or plane--which can add stress and anguish to high-stakes, life or death situations.

Self-managing abortion at home with medication abortion pills is safe and Texans are utilizing this when possible, even if they would prefer to see a physician in a facility.

Some Texans are not able to overcome these increased barriers to healthcare and are being forced to continue their pregnancies.
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06/22/2023

In an ongoing study with University of California, San Francisco’s research team at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health and Texas Policy Evaluation Project, healthcare providers are asked to share their stories on how the care they provide has changed sine Roe v Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022.

One physician recalled a patient who was sent home after premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) at around 16-18 weeks gestational age, instructing the patient to wait until labor started or when she developed signs of infection. Two days after the PPROM, the patient was admitted to the ICU with severe sepsis, the body’s extreme and life-threatening response to an infection, and bacteremia, a condition in which bacteria enter a patient’s bloodstream. The patient was concerned that the life-saving abortion she received would lead to her or her physician’s arrest. She was worried she did not qualify for the "medical emergency" abortion exception, even though her life was in critical danger.

To read the report, visit our website.

06/21/2023

Sam Dickman, an affiliate researcher at TxPEP and the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of Montana released an op-ed with the Los Angeles Times regarding the massive medical bills sexual assault survivors may encounter when seeking care.

For the full opinion piece, find it on website.

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06/20/2023

The implementation of Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB 8, 2021) and the fall of Roe has led to Texans traveling hundreds of miles to a facility to obtain the care they need and want. The map above is simply an example of how long it would take to drive from a specific city in Texas to a facility out of state.

Nearby states have different restrictions that can create more barriers, including some with multiple visit and waiting period requirements. This can make paying for travel, overnight stays, and other expenses more difficult because people miss work for days and can require multiple days of childcare. This can lead to extreme financial hardships.

Additionally, the people who need care quickly for health reasons, are forced to travel long distances, further threatening their health.

06/19/2023

In a recent survey of Texans seeking abortion care in state, we found that nearly all patients still wanted an abortion, even if they could not obtain one at a Texas facility.

People will do whatever they can to receive the care they want and need.

06/16/2023

TxPEP conducted interviews before & after restrictive abortion policy Senate Bill 8 (SB8, 2021) with health care professionals who manage medically complex pregnancies.⁠ We found that restrictive abortion policies did not align with health care professionals’ more nuanced views of options for care and patient autonomy.⁠
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Follow our link in bio to read the publication.

06/15/2023

A new report from the Society of Family Planning shows that overturning Roe v. Wade caused a disruption in abortion care, especially impacting people in banned states like . These bans have a disproportionate impact on people living at or below the poverty level–many of whom are Hispanic/Latinx, Black, and other people of color—immigrant families who fear encounters with police and border enforcement, parents who have limited childcare options, and minors who cannot involve a parent in their care.

Read more about the study in FiveThirtyEight, follow the link.

New estimates provided exclusively to FiveThirtyEight by — a national research project led by the Society of Family Planning, a nonprofit that supports research on abortion and contraception — indicate that there were 24,290 fewer legal abortions between July 2022 and March 2023, compar...