More than half of Texas women can’t access their preferred birth control method — meaning they can’t use the method that works best for them. Gracia Sierra, a nonresident scholar at the Baker Institute and data scientist at Resound Research for Reproductive Health, sits down with senior health policy fellow Elena Marks to discuss how insurance status shapes access to contraception and why uninsured and publicly insured people are most likely to face barriers.

Sierra also lays out policy solutions to the gap, from expanding Medicaid to strengthening existing programs for low-income Texans, from her latest co-authored report for the Baker Institute.

Featured guests:

• Gracia Sierra, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/gracia-sierra

Mentioned in this episode:

• Gracia Sierra et al., “Barriers to Preferred Contraceptive Use in Texas,” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, November 4, 2025.

This conversation was recorded on Oct. 17, 2025.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

Texas lawmakers returned to the Capitol yesterday for a special legislative session intended to address flood resilience, congressional redistricting, and the state’s booming consumable hemp industry. Katharine Neill Harris lays out the consumer risks of underregulated hemp products and commonsense measures to protect public health and child safety.

For more, read Harris’ road map for hemp regulation in Texas.

Featured guest:

• Katharine Neill Harris, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/katharine-neill-harris

Mentioned in this episode:

• Katharine Neill Harris, Victoria Jupp, and Lisa Pittman, “How a Well-Regulated Texas Hemp Industry Can Promote Public Safety,” https://doi.org/10.25613/CVDC-0V10.
• Katharine Neill Harris, Victoria Jupp, and Lisa Pittman, “Mapping Hemp Products’ Legal Status Across US States,” https://doi.org/10.25613/5C1S-Q789.

This conversation was recorded on July 14, 2025. A transcript of this episode is available here: http://bit.ly/4kPDYfG

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

This is our third episodes in a miniseries series on reproductive health in Texas — where we have world-class health facilities, yet rank near the bottom when it comes to women’s health outcomes.

Texas banned all abortions in 2022, with one exception — to save the life of the pregnant patient or “prevent substantial impairment of a major bodily function.” The law’s vague language and harsh penalties for doctors who perform abortions, including possible life imprisonment and a $100,000 fine, have left OB-GYN physicians unsure of when emergency care is legally allowed and fearful of acting outside the law.

As a result, OB-GYNs across the state are reconsidering how — and where — they practice.

Alex Morin, managing director at Manatt Health and co-author of two recent studies on the ban’s impact, joins Elena Marks to discuss how legal uncertainty around the ban is reshaping reproductive health outcomes in Texas and what it means for the state’s OB-GYN workforce pipeline.

Featured:

Alex Morin, https://www.manatt.com/alex-morin

Elena Marks, J.D., MPH, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/elena-m-marks

Mentioned in this episode:

Manatt Health, Confusion, Cruelty and Fear: Delivering Reproductive Care to Women After Texas’ Abortion Ban, https://www.manatt.com/insights/white-papers/2025/health-highlights/confusion-cruelty-and-fear-delivering-reproductive-care-to-women-after-texas-abortion-ban

Manatt Health, Texas OBGYN Physician Workforce Study, https://www.manatt.com/insights/white-papers/2024/texas-obgyn-physician-workforce-study

This conversation was recorded on May 29, 2025.

A transcript of this episode is available here: https://bit.ly/4kzNq7U

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.