Texas physicians share how Ken Paxton’s health care stances could impact Texans as senator

Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026

NOTE: The physicians below are speaking in their capacity as members of the Committee to Protect Health Care. They should be identified only as indicated in this news release.

Republican senatorial candidate supported Medicaid cuts, has extreme record on abortion

AUSTIN — Physicians from across Texas gathered virtually Tuesday to share what Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s health care record could mean for residents in the state if he were to become their U.S. Senator. Paxton praised Congress for passing H.R. 1, the law that slashes federal Medicaid funding. In Texas alone, the law is projected to take health care away from 300,000 people.

“My fellow physicians and I are here today because as Attorney General for the state of Texas, Ken Paxton has made it harder to access lifesaving health care. We worry that, if Ken Paxton makes it to the U.S. Senate, he’ll do even worse,” said Dr. Owais Durrani, an emergency medicine physician in Houston. “Many hospitals in rural and low-income areas rely on Medicaid funding to keep their doors open. If they close, Texans will have to travel farther and longer for basic care. Texas already has one of the highest uninsured rates in the country. Texas deserves a senator who will fight to make health care more affordable and accessible — not someone who supports taking coverage away from hundreds of thousands of Texans.”

As Texas Attorney General, Paxton has rigorously enforced the state’s abortion restrictions, even petitioning the Texas Supreme Court to halt an abortion for Kate Cox, a Texas woman whose pregnancy had been diagnosed with a fatal fetal condition and whom a judge had allowed to seek abortion care.

“Think about what that means. A patient was facing a devastating pregnancy. She and her doctors were trying to make a medical decision together. And the attorney general of Texas decided that he should have the final say,” said Dr. Lisa Gurwitz, an OBGYN in San Antonio. “That is not how medicine is supposed to work. As physicians, we know that pregnancy does not always follow a textbook. Sometimes pregnancies become dangerous. Sometimes a fetus has a condition that is incompatible with life. Sometimes a patient needs treatment immediately. Those decisions belong with patients and their doctors. Not Ken Paxton.”

A ProPublica analysis of Texas hospital data found that the rate of sepsis among women hospitalized for second-trimester pregnancy loss increased by more than 50% after the state’s abortion ban took effect. The analysis also found that maternal deaths in Texas rose while the national maternal mortality rate was falling.

“Those numbers represent real women and real families. Yet Paxton continues to defend these restrictions and push for aggressive enforcement. And now he wants to take that approach to the U.S. Senate,” said Dr. Audrey Nath, a neurologist in Houston. “Ken Paxton has shown that he is more than willing to use the power of government to override medical professionals, interfere with patients’ decisions and make health care harder to access. That should concern every physician and every patient — regardless of how they feel about abortion. Because once politicians decide that they know better than doctors and patients, there is no guarantee that they will stop with one area of medicine. Texans need a senator who understands that health care should be guided by patients, doctors and medical evidence — not by politicians looking for their next ideological fight.”

About the Committee to Protect Health Care

The Committee to Protect Health Care is a national mobilization of doctors, health care professionals, and advocates who are building a pro-patient health care majority in Congress and in states so that we can live in an America where everyone has the health care they need to thrive. To learn more: www.committeetoprotect.org