Culture
When Texans go to the hospital for emergency care, starting on Nov. 1, they can expect to answer questions about their citizenship status. On Aug. 8, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order to collect immigration statuses for anyone who uses public hospitals in Texas. The governor claimed undocumented people
Health
My sister Victoria was wrangling Elias, her then-2-year-old, into his costume on Halloween when the spots of blood in her underwear became worrisome. It was almost exactly two years ago, in 2022, and Elias had woken up from a nap excited about trick-or-treating. She’d
Health
Turns out that kicking millions of people off Medicaid is really bad! The Texas Tribune and ProPublica investigated how Texas behaved in the aftermath of COVID-19, and — surprise!! — we were extremely shitty toward poor people who needed healthcare. To briefly sum up, we kicked more than two million people
Health
Texas lawmakers fucked around, and now we’re all finding out. Since the state’s abortion ban passed in 2021, the state’s rate of maternal mortality cases rose by 56%, compared with just 11% nationally, according to NBC News. The Gender Equity Policy Institute took a look at data
Culture
If Ken Paxton is anything, it’s busy. These past two weeks, our attorney general has sued the State Fair of Texas, raided the home of an 87-year-old, and attacked the rights of transgender Texans (again). Now, he’s suing the Department of Health and Human Services because
Culture
Austin’s city council just put its money where its mouth is, voting to move forward with funding travel costs for out-of-state abortion care — despite a lawsuit claiming the move violates state law. In mid-August, the city first approved $400,000 to help Austinites with travel costs
Culture
Most people I know take Mary Jane out for a date, at least occasionally. And they typically get it illegally. Sure, weed’s public perception has been on a rapid upswing in the last 15-20 years. Gone are the days where mom’s telling you a little reefer’s
Health
The Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed on Tuesday that transgender Texans will no longer be able to change the sex on their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity, a ban that comes just weeks after the state halted Texans from changing the sex listed on driver’s
Health
Texas already ranks last in the nation for mental health care, child health care, and women’s health. And that’s not all — our state also has the most people who are uninsured, and now (are we surprised?) it’s among the worst states for life expectancy. The CDC says
Perspectives
On a slow afternoon in the summer of 2019, I took my laptop outside to work in a sunroom, the only place in my small house where I can be separated from my husband and children by a sliding glass door. I was perusing my inbox when an email from