“It’s not safe to have sex in the state of Texas,” is the startling opinion of a physician-delegate at the Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso earlier this month.

Dr. Carolyn Salter of Palestine wasn’t referring to sexually transmitted diseases, but to the extreme Republican policies concerning women’s reproductive health in general and abortions specifically.

Dr. Salter, whose parents lived in Longview for 20 years, spoke to a caucus of East Texas Democrats gathered at the biennial convention. The main order of business in presidential election years is to select delegates to the national convention. However, with President Joe Biden already securing the party’s nomination, the convention focused on adopting a platform that will appeal to voters this November.

One issue that Democrats want to contrast is their humane policies for helping women with health care issues while pregnant and postnatal. A statement released by the National Women’s Law Center takes aim at Texas policies:

“The Lone Star State is known for making legislative decisions that negatively impact reproductive health. From withdrawing Planned Parenthood from HIV testing programs, closing abortion providers, and cutting funding to health programs, the state has created (an) unsafe atmosphere for reproductive health.

“Texans are dying of pregnancy-related ailments at a higher rate than the rest of the country and even most other industrialized countries. Black women in Texas account for 30% of maternal deaths, and Hispanic women in Texas make up 31% of maternal deaths.

“The Texas Legislature (has) used laws and policies to create a grim reality for women living in Texas.

“In rural regions of the state, Texans live without a nearby abortion provider and experience long waiting times at local health departments to receive medical treatment and services. Instead the state gives grant money to non-profit organizations that do not offer reproductive health services but affirm pro-life ideologies.”

Democrats made clear their views on reproductive health. Here’s part of their platform adopted at the convention:

Restore the right of all Texans to make personal and responsible decisions about whether or when to bear children;

Protect doctors and hospitals from politically motivated attacks that hinder them from providing the best medical care possible especially in emergency conditions;

Require emergency rooms to provide the federally-required stabilizing care, including abortion, when medically necessary;

Uphold the constitutionally-protected right to travel to another state for medical services that are legal in that state; and

Prohibit any political subdivision from penalizing a pregnant person traveling to get an abortion or entities who provide logistical support to those traveling to get an abortion.

Meanwhile, Texas Republicans had some explaining to do when they issued their 2024 platform with plank No. 141:

“We support the current medical emergency exception laws which include the management of confirmed ectopic pregnancies, which are not to be considered abortions. We do not support inaccurate arguments against abortion which occur due to false and misleading rhetoric. The abortion law does not need to be altered, but implementation does need to be addressed. We urge the Legislature and health agencies to educate and inform medical professionals and the public about the law of medical emergency exceptions. The mother’s life remains the primary consideration in providing emergency care exceptions in the management of ectopic pregnancies and complicated preterm premature rupture of the membrane”

Republicans are trying to limit the damage created by new laws that limit the scope of procedures performed by doctors treating pregnant women in distress. Physicians are fearful they could face jail sentences for felonies related to these laws and hesitate to act even with a woman who is on the verge of death.

The all-Republican Texas Supreme Court didn’t help matters when a woman sued this year to end an non-viable pregnancy. The court ruled unanimously that she was not entitled to a procedure, forcing her to seek treatment out of state.

Republicans hope voters forget about this issue by November’s election. However, Democrats think Republicans are “whistling past the graveyard” of dead women and babies who are victims of GOP draconian laws.