Abbott's Answer to a Supreme Court Loss: Go After the Hospitals
Executive Order GA-57 weaponizes licensing boards against "birth tourism" weeks after the Court affirmed birthright citizenship.
WASHINGTON — Greg Abbott just gave six different Texas agencies the power to pull a doctor’s license over a billboard.
The governor signed Executive Order GA-57 on Monday, directing the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, its Office of Inspector General, the Texas Medical Board, the Board of Nursing, the Department of Licensing and Regulation, and the Department of State Health Services to investigate hospitals, birthing centers and medical staff accused of marketing so-called “birth tourism” — trips by pregnant travelers to the U.S. to give birth. The order lets those agencies revoke licenses, cut off state contracts, deny benefits, and refer cases for criminal prosecution.
What triggered it
The order leans on a Texas Health and Human Services Commission probe Abbott ordered on July 7 after reports surfaced that hospitals were advertising birth packages abroad. HHSC has already referred two Texas hospitals to the state attorney general over billboards placed in a foreign country…