Daily Dispatch 12/13/23: National Outrage Over Texas Abortion Policy, and More

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The entire country is stunned over recent developments regarding abortion care for women with problematic pregnancies in Texas: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-does-texas-supreme-court-ruling-emergency-abortions-mean-patients-2023-12-12/ ...The Texas Supreme Court regards Cox's legal plea as evidence she doesn't qualify for exception to the ban: https://x.com/AliceOllstein/status/1734372711332274677?s=20 ...The reassuring language from the Court is a "trap" for Texas healthcare providers: https://www.vox.com/2023/12/12/23998301/kate-cox-texas-supreme-court-abortion-ken-paxton ...Legal experts interpret Ken Paxton's "extraordinary" threats against Texas doctors as his continued "enforcement through fear": https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/12/texas-abortion-ken-paxton-kate-cox ...One especially anti-choice Texas Supreme Court Justice, John Phillip Devine, is up for re-election in 2024: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/12/kate-cox-nonviable-pregnancy-judicial-control-abortion-texas.html ...Both Ted Cruz and John Cornyn dodge the issue altogether: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/ted-cruz-john-cornyn-avoid-questions-kate-cox-abortion-case-rcna129407#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17024320640662&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fcongress%2Fted-cruz-john-cornyn-avoid-questions-kate-cox-abortion-case-rcna129407 The U.S. Supreme Court clears the use of a Galveston voting map a lower court had found drawn on racist lines - a threat to the national Voting Rights Act: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/12/galveston-texas-voting-map-supreme-court/ ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas warns of impending power problems related to a lack of "investment in infrastructure": https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/ercot-blackout-pablo-vegas-18547148.php Media Matters has sued Ken Paxton over his investigation into their coverage of X/Twitter: https://www.thedailybeast.com/media-matters-sues-texas-ag-ken-paxton-over-retaliatory-investigation Craig Watkins, Dallas' first Black district attorney, has died at 56: https://www.keranews.org/news/2023-12-12/craig-watkins-dallas-countys-first-black-district-attorney-has-died The Texas Democratic Party will host a virtual conversation today (Wed 12/13) at 12:30 PM with Emily's List and Planned Parenthood Texas Votes on recent abortion developments and their implication for next year's election: https://www.instagram.com/texasdemocrats/?hl=en Thanks for listening! Please consider making a donation to help Progress Texas continue our important work at https://progresstexas.org/.