8 April 6–12, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents But reproductive rights advocates haven’t stopped fighting, and last week, the Texas Equal Access Fund reopened its abor- tion funding program for residents seeking the procedure outside of the Lone Star State. The news comes after abortion rights ac- tivists celebrated a major win last month: A federal judge had ruled that prosecutors can’t target such funds for bankrolling the procedure beyond Texas’ borders. This al- lowed the TEA Fund, a North Texas non- profit, to start helping Texans in need once more. TEA Fund’s intake director Charlie Hughes told the Observer that March 27 was a big day for her group. “We’re excited to get to help people again,” Hughes said. Hughes noted that clinics in neighboring states have seen a significant spike in the number of Texans appearing at their doors. Months after the state’s six-week ban on abortions went into effect in September 2021, Planned Parenthood clinics in five sur- rounding states witnessed a nearly 800% in- crease in Texas abortion patients. It’s difficult for abortion-seeking Texans to travel hundreds of miles away from home when they’re already feeling emotional, Hughes said. Plus, costs associated with travel can add up. Although she anticipates that anti-abor- tion proponents won’t be pleased to learn that TEA Fund’s program is operating again, Hughes’ group and other abortion funds are ready for whatever hurdles they encounter next. “We’ve always had this relationship where we’re getting pushback for just help- ing people obtain their right,” Hughes said. “So, I think it’s not a new space for us, but it’s just kind of something that we always have to unfortunately be prepared for.” The push to ban abortion in Texas largely emanated from the right-wing of the Texas Legislature, and from officials like Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. In a press release, Patrick said that as a conservative Christian, he has “al- ways been committed to helping as many women choose life as possible. “When the U.S. Supreme Court over- turned Roe v. Wade in 2022, I said this was an acknowledgement of the truth: [W]hen an abortion is performed, a human life is ended,” Patrick continued in the release. “That victory was not just a victory for inno- cent life, but a victory for all of humanity.” The lieutenant governor previously named “expanding alternatives to abortion” among his top 30 legislative priorities this session. And his recent press release praised the state Senate’s passage of a bill by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, a Brenham Republican. Kolkhorst had previously stated on social media that her proposal, Senate Bill 24, would promote “a culture of life for families and mothers.” These days, there aren’t any clinics that perform abortion in Texas, Hughes said. Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center in Dallas closed last month, leaving many peo- ple without access to non-abortion services including birth control and ultrasounds. There are organizations similar to TEA Fund elsewhere in the state, including the Frontera and West funds. Hughes said an- other group, the Lilith Fund, has also re- booted its hotline operations and is supporting out-of-state abortion care once more. Kamyon Conner, TEA Fund’s executive director, emphasized in a press release that such groups are the “network of support” and a “critical resource” for pregnant Tex- ans who need abortions. And even though TEA Fund is glad to see its program revived, Hughes knows that there’s more work to be done for her group. “We are very happy to be able to do fund- ing again, but we’re also sad that our state is in the state that it is with abortion funding,” she said. “We’re happy to help people, but I just want people to be more motivated than ever to try to fight for people’s right to get an abortion where they live.” TEA Fund encourages pregnant Texans who require assistance in covering abortion- related costs to message their confidential text line, 1-844-TEA-FUND (1-844-832- 3863), for help. ▼ COVID-19 VAX FIGHTERS DALLAS FIRE-RESCUE TRAINEE FIRED FOR NOT GETTING COVID-19 VACCINE. BY JACOB VAUGHN D allas Fire-Rescue (DFR) employees in training could get fired if they’re not vaccinated for COVID-19, Dep- uty City Manager Jon Fortune said in a memo. At their recent meeting, members of Dal- las’ Public Safety Committee asked DFR whether it requires recruits to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to be eligible for hire. They also asked if Dallas College’s Brookhaven Campus, which partners with the department for the paramedic program, requires students to be vaccinated against the virus. Neither DFR nor Brookhaven requires the COVID-19 vaccine, but the participating hospitals in the program do, Fortune’s memo said. So if DFR trainees can’t or won’t abide by this requirement, they could face disciplinary action, including termination. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an execu- tive order in August 2021 preventing govern- ment entities from mandating the COVID-19 vaccine. A couple of months later, he signed another executive order to prevent any en- tity from mandating the vaccine for custom- ers or employees. But the hospitals where the paramedic training took place were still requiring the vaccine for staff, including trainees. The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) sets the standards for paramedic training, which requires a set number of hours in a hospital as well as in an ambu- lance. After the vaccine was developed and hospitals started mandating it, DSHS cre- ated an exception under which trainees could double up on ambulance hours in lieu of their hospital hours to avoid the vac- cine requirement. But that ended in Janu- ary 2022. That same month, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a rule by the Centers for Medi- care and Medicaid Service that requires hospitals and healthcare providers to man- date the COVID-19 vaccine for staff, includ- ing paramedic students. So Brookhaven announced that paramedic students who were not fully vaccinated by March 15, 2022, would be dropped from the paramedic pro- gram, according to the memo. They also wouldn’t be eligible for re-enrollment until they got vaccinated. DFR told all employees enrolled or wait- ing to get scheduled for the paramedic train- ing program about the deadline to get vaccinated. There were alternatives offered at the time though. Employees could opt to enroll in private paramedic training ap- proved by DFR at their own expense. They could also get reimbursed for what it would have cost the department to get them trained through Brookhaven. But Fortune’s memo said DFR isn’t aware of any local paramedic training programs that do not re- quire clinical rotations in healthcare facili- ties that also meet all the requirements of the state’s paramedic licensing. “Therefore, employees who do not or cannot complete their paramedic certifica- tion through Brookhaven will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including ter- mination of employment,” the memo said. President Joe Biden’s administration announced that the COVID-19 national public health emergency would end on May 11. If that happens, vaccine require- ments at the hospitals where the para- medic training takes place could be changed in the future. Jim McDade, president of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association, said the depart- ment hires people before they get their cer- tifications. New hires go through EMT school, then paramedic training and are later trained for firefighting, McDade said. He said some people end up getting vacci- nated to attend paramedic training. Some quit. And in December 2022, someone got fired because they couldn’t start paramedic training because they weren’t vaccinated for COVID-19. McDade sent the Observer a document detailing the termination action against this DFR employee. The comments section of the document says: “Member was termi- nated because he refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19. This is a violation of Dallas Fire-Rescue Department Emergency Medi- cal Service Pre-Employment Acknowledge- ment.” The pre-employment acknowledgement that DFR employees must sign states they understand their training requires a series of vaccinations for conditions such as teta- nus and hepatitis A and B. It also says that other vaccinations may be required in or- der to complete mandatory in-hospital training. “This is kind of a backdoor mandate where they’re not saying you have to have the vaccine, but to continue training, you have to have the vaccine,” McDade said. McDade wants the department and state to continue offering the alternatives that they did before, like the extra ambulance time in lieu of hospital hours and allowing the employees to get trained privately. He said DFR employees who opt to get trained privately should get reimbursed in full by the department. Otherwise, McDade said, the department could be missing out on good employees. “Putting as few obstacles in place that’s facing these guys is the best thing to do to get more people on the street,” McDade said. “By forcing people to get vaccinated who choose not to get vaccinated, we’re tak- ing away a whole subset of employees.” Jason Evans, a spokesperson for DFR, wouldn’t say whether any employee had been fired as a result of their vaccine status. But he said the quality of paramedic training is the city’s top priority. “DFR strives to ensure that paramedics have both the training and experience to re- spond effectively to the rigorous demands of emergency response within the city of Dal- las,” Evans said in an emailed statement. He said the department can’t offer an al- ternative like it did before because “DFR is unaware of any such program which provides adequate hands-on education while also sat- isfying all requirements of both state para- medic licensure and local credentialing.” Fortune’s memo said city staff are looking out for changes that may come after Biden ends the COVID-19 national health emer- gency and will notify DFR employees in paramedic training accordingly. Unsplash A fire-rescue trainee refused the vaccine. Unfair Park from p6
