Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center canceled a scheduled Jan. 26 talk by OB-GYN Dr. Shelley Sella on medical and ethical considerations surrounding later-pregnancy abortions, university officials said in response to public pressure over the planned event.
According to the report distributed by the Associated Press, university officials were asked who made the decision and whether communications from activists played a role. The officials said the Health Sciences Center “evaluated the request and determined it was not in the best interest of the university to host this event on campus.”
The event had been organized by the Texas Tech chapter of Medical Students for Choice, which described the group as having 31 members. Dr. Sella, an OB-GYN and author who provides abortion care later in pregnancy, was scheduled to speak about medical and ethical issues connected to abortion later in pregnancy.
Pamela Merritt, executive director of Medical Students for Choice, said medical schools should offer students opportunities to learn about reproductive health care that remains legal in Texas. Merritt also said discussions about abortion ethics and care are part of preparing future physicians, and she questioned the decision-making by saying, “If Texas Tech is going to cave to … a political activist complaining about an event rather than uphold the integrity of medical education, then that raises the question of the quality of education at Texas Tech medical school,” as quoted in the report.
The report said Texas’ near-total ban on abortions includes a narrow exception that allows doctors to terminate a pregnancy to save a pregnant patient’s life or prevent serious impairment. It also said a 2025 law, Senate Bill 31, clarified that doctors do not need to wait until death is imminent to act in a medical emergency, while the law does not restrict medical education or discussion about abortion care.
The cancellation followed pressure from anti-abortion activists and a conservative student group, the report said. In a Jan. 21 Facebook post, Mark Lee Dickson, director of Right to Life Across Texas, wrote that after learning about the planned talk, he “knew I had to start making some calls,” and he compared hosting the event to allowing criminal activity, arguing it should be “just as jarring” as promoting rape or the manufacture of illegal drugs.
The Texas Tech chapter of Turning Point USA later issued a statement echoing that argument and thanked Dickson and others for drawing attention to the event, the report said. The statement said the cancellation was “not an attempt to suppress free speech,” and the group claimed responsibility for the outcome, according to the report.
Dickson told The Texas Tribune by text that he did not directly contact anyone at the university. He said he raised concerns publicly and with people in Lubbock, the report said.
In the reported account of the cancellation, a representative for the Texas Tech chapter of Turning Point USA could not be reached for comment, and abortion-rights advocates disputed the argument that hosting the talk would be illegal on a public university campus.