Soon It Could Be Legal for Texas Doctors to Lie to Pregnant Women
Because of course
On March 20, 2017, the Texas state senate passed SB 25 — “An Act Relating to Eliminating the Wrongful Birth Cause of Action” — with a vote of 21 to 9. Now it’ll go to the state house for consideration before becoming law.
Knowing Texas, it’ll probably pass. And then it’ll be legal for Texas doctors to lie to pregnant women.
“Wrongful birth” is a legal term originating in medical malpractice suits. When a doctor fails to alert a pregnant woman that her child could have a birth defect or, worse, harm or kill the mother, then that woman can sue the doctor.
But soon, not in Texas.
Yup, Texas Senate Bill 25 cancels that bit of the malpractice law, thus shielding doctors from lawsuits. But that’s not the only reason the bill has earned the ire of pro-choice advocates. The language of the law implies that doctors can legally lie to their patients about their pregnancies.
Nine other states — including Arizona and Indiana — have similar laws and they’re all just as sleazy as this one is. Check out the actual language of the legislation.
“(a) A cause of action may not arise, and damages may not be awarded, on behalf of any person, based on the claim that but for the act or omission of another, a person would not have been permitted to have been born alive but would have been aborted.
(b) This section may not be construed to eliminate any duty of a physician or other health care practitioner under any other applicable law.”
The wording is important. Note “the act or omission of another” and “under any other applicable law.” At first glance, it seems as if Texas designed this law to protect doctors from frivolous lawsuits and added the second section to make sure doctors don’t see it as a blank check to lie to patients.
That’d be the case in a reasonable state, at least, but Texas is not a reasonable state. Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Republican, wrote the bill — and he’s been in the press all week talking it up.
His words are damning. “The bill does not permit a physician to lie,” he told The Blaze — a publication that recently suspended conservative firebrand Tomi Lahren for calling small government, anti-abortion Republicans hypocrites.
Creighton said he believes “every child is precious” and that he wrote the bill because he think it’s “unacceptable that doctors can be penalized for embracing the sanctity of life.”
And that’s the catch, the interesting bit people miss when talking about this story — especially if they’re conservative. In Texas, your doctor can lie to you for religious reasons.
I’m not joking. Back in December 2016, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, a Texan, filed a nationwide injunction against certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act. The short version is that he opened the door for healthcare workers to discriminate against patients based on their strongly held religious convictions.
According to O’Connor, to do otherwise would force doctors and other medical staff to “engage in material cooperation with evil.”
Also note that the number of wrongful-birth lawsuits in Texas is ridiculously low. How low? “I’ve practiced medical malpractice for 30 years and I have never brought one of these,” Dallas attorney Kay Van Wey told The Dallas Morning News. “I know all the other experienced medical malpractice lawyers in Dallas, and I don’t know any of them who have brought these lawsuits.”
The reason why is pretty clear. Finding an expert witness to testify against a doctor and then convincing a jury your kid should never have been born is an uphill battle. Plus, the lengthy court case would force potential plaintiffs to relive what may already be a painful and complicated trauma.
Make no mistake, this bill is about restricting abortions and allowing Texas doctors to lie to patients. It’s not about protecting doctors.
Now, some of you might think that, even in the South, doctors are a different breed than normal folk are. They’ve been through years of school and know their science.
As a Texan, let me tell you that such scientific training does not preclude a doctor from being a religious nut. Some years ago, I had need of a good urologist. My primary care physician sent me to a man he assured me was the best in town. The dick doc’s office was fancy and expensive but religious self-help books littered his waiting room. There were no magazines.
When I actually got out of the waiting room, the doctor pulled me aside and showed me a new book he’d just purchased. It was a “scientific” argument for creationism that walked the reader through all the complex forms of life that couldn’t have possibly have arise without a creator.
He patted me on the back and guffawed as if he’d shared a great secret with a friend. “And some people think the earth is millions of years old,” he said.
I kept my mouth shut. This man was about to fix my dick — and my other doctor assured me he was the best. And here’s the thing, he was. He was incredible, but he was also a religious nut. That’s Texas.
If a suburban asshole like me doesn’t trust his dick doctor enough to keep creationism out of the examination room, what chance do you think Texas women have seeing gynecologists?
This is a real issue in the South, especially in Texas. Old men have decided they know what’s best for another person’s body. Texans, call up your local reps and give them an earful about the bullshit Senate Bill 25. There’s still time to stop it.
Stay defiant.
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