Silver Linings at the Lege: Texas Moms to Get 12 Months of Free Health Care

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As is always the case in the Texas Legislature, some of the best news out of this session is what didn't happen: Public school money was not diverted to private school tuition, police oversight was not damned across the state, the Ten Commandments will not be required teaching in our allegedly secular public schools, and more. But we're not out of the woods yet. Within hours of the session ending, Gov. Greg Abbott announced a special session to deal with property taxes and his border vision, and he could tack on other priorities when he feels like it.

In the first legislative session after the loss of the constitutional right to abort a pregnancy, there is some good news for Texas moms. Abbott will almost certainly sign legislation passed by the House and Senate that will give moms in Texas access to Medicaid coverage for 12 months after childbirth. Several bills on the governor's desk (and one already signed into law) will make college easier for parenting students, many of whom are single mothers, by requiring that students who are also parents have the option to enroll in classes early and that universities hire staff to help student parents access child care, tutoring, and other resources.

There are a couple big investments to note: On Abbott's desk is a historic bill allocating $1.5 billion to broadband infrastructure development to help address the millions of Texans without broadband access, and there's a big injection to state parks. You'll get a chance to vote on both investments in November. Another bill on Abbott's desk would put $1 billion toward improving water ­infrastructure in a state that seems perpetually plagued by drought.

One silver lining relates to legislation that never saw the light of day, but scares the hell out of this child-bearing-age lady, so I'm mentioning it: Several legislators considered and ultimately decided against filing "personhood" bills, which would give zygotes and fetuses the same rights as citizens (or more rights, since we can't force people to give their organs to save our lives, but fetuses could). That would mean putting a whole lot of Texans on trial for manslaughter and murder, from pregnant people who have abortions (including spontaneous ones, i.e., miscarriages) to fertility doctors who sneeze while holding a petri dish of embryos. No, thank you.