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Weeks after ProPublica reported on the deaths of two pregnant women whose miscarriages went untreated in Texas, state lawmakers have filed bills that would create new exceptions to the state’s strict abortion laws, broadening doctors’ ability to intervene when their patients face health risks. ... Democratic State Rep. Donna Howard, who filed the bill in the Texas House, said ProPublica’s recent reporting adds to evidence that the current legislation is a threat to the safety of pregnant women in Texas and increases the urgency to make changes. “This is my reaction,” she said. “It’s one of extreme sadness and disbelief that we are at a point where we are allowing women to die because we haven’t been able to clarify the law,” she said. (Jaramillo, Surana, Presser and Branstetter, 11/20)

In the year after Texas began implementing its six-week abortion ban, teen fertility rates in the state rose for the first time in 15 years, according to a study released earlier this year by the University of Houston. Overall, the increase in teen fertility in Texas was slight: only 0.39%. But the University of Houston researchers said the change was significant, because it reversed a 15-year trend and because the national teen fertility rate declined during the same period. They also noted that the increases were larger for Hispanic teens (1.2%) and Black teens (0.5%), while the rate for white teens declined by 0.5%. (Hassanein, 11/20)

Women's health advocates in Africa are worried that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will again invoke the so-called global gag rule, a policy that cuts off U.S. government funding for groups that offer abortion-related services. (Mutsaka, 11/19)

The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has rankled some abortion opponents, who are concerned about his past statements expressing a liberal position on reproductive rights. Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran for president as an independent before backing Trump, has said in multiple interviews that while he's "personally pro-life," he does not believe it's the government's role to interfere with a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy. As recently as May, he said a woman should be able to have an abortion when she's full term, although he later walked that statement back and announced support for some restrictions on abortion. (Pandolfo, 11/19)

The GOP has signaled some openness to compromise: While campaigning, Trump said he supported abortion exceptions in cases of “rape, incest, and protecting the life of the mother,” and he promised to mandate insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization (IVF). Several Republican lawmakers have backed their own fertility treatment bills. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) backed a Democratic-led IVF measure and speaks openly about his family’s consideration of the procedure. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) has pushed legislation to expand over-the-counter contraception. ... Vox asked six major advocacy groups if they would consider pushing for new federal protections under a Republican-led Congress, be it for IVF, birth control or abortion. (Cohen, 11/20)