On November 9, Jane’s Due Process attended a public hearing on the proposed DSHS fetal remains rule. This rule would require the cremation or burial of fetal tissue from miscarriages and abortions. Our Board President, Marilyn Robertson, came to Austin from Dallas to share her testimony about the rule. We have reprinted her statement below.
“Texas Department of Health Services
November 9, 2016
Dear Commissioners:
My name is Marilyn Robertson and I live in Dallas, Texas. As an attorney that represents several types of health providers in this state and President of Jane’s Due Process a nonprofit that ensures legal representation for pregnant minors in Texas, I am opposed to the new proposed rules regarding disposal of certain pathological waste at medical facilities, in particular the requirement that embryonic and fetal tissue at all stages of gestation may only be buried or cremated. Legally, practically and morally, I think these rules are cruel and unnecessary with the sole purpose to prevent women from exercising their fundamental Constitutional rights.
As the Texas Medical Association and Texas Hospital Association previously articulated, these rules have nothing to do with the safe practice of modern medicine but instead are part of a nationwide effort to enact unnecessary regulations to restrict access to abortion. Texas healthcare providers like hospitals and abortion clinics already follow the state’s standards for the sanitary disposal of medical waste including embryonic tissue. These providers work with licensed and regulated professionals to ensure all medical waste is handled safely and in accordance with Texas law. The addition of an additional procedure with no recognized medical value only unnecessarily interferes with a woman’s autonomy and her decision making in her own medical care.
As written, these rules apply to miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies and make it harder for a family’s ability to provide tissue samples for pathological examination and testing. Pathological testing can be medically necessary to provide a more accurate diagnosis of the reason for the miscarriage which can lead to successful pregnancies. Therefore, these rules impact many types of healthcare providers such as hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, abortion facilities, physician practices, and the general public. However, the state fails to provide guidance for the general public about how to handle the waste.
Despite the commentary in the preamble, there is little doubt that the implementation of these rules will substantially increase the already high costs of medical procedures. Additionally, the state has failed to recognize the effects and the undue burden these regulations place on young women in this state. Many of these young women are black and brown living in poverty and some undergo unimaginable abuse. These young women call the Jane’s Due Process legal hotline with stories of rape and abuse, they have no means to pay for the sonogram, procedure and other associated costs. Undoubtedly, if these rules are implemented, the clinics are forced to pass along the costs of this unnecessary regulation, which is not insignificant. The State previously noted that the cost is expected to be offset by costs currently being spent by facilities on disposition for transportation, storage, incineration, steam disinfection and/or landfill disposal; however, this is fundamentally incorrect
I ask that the state remove politics from public health and listen to input from providers, medical practitioners and public health professionals rather than politicians when deciding public health policy.
Thank you.”
