Abortion rights activists hold signs outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., April 19, 2023.
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The Texas Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked pregnant women from receiving emergency abortions, shortly after the state’s attorney general requested an injunction.
The legal battle is a major test since the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned constitutional abortion rights across the country and states such as Texas passed near-total bans.
Earlier in the day, a Texas court responded to a petition from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and blocked a lower court ruling allowing emergency abortions.
“Regardless of the merits of the case, the court administratively stays the district court’s Dec. 7, 2023 order,” the ruling late Friday said.
Kate Cox, 31, of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, asked the court for permission to terminate her pregnancy on November 27 after her fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 18. Trisomy 18 is a genetic abnormality that usually leads to miscarriage, stillbirth, or death soon after birth. .
Cox, who is about 20 weeks pregnant, said in the lawsuit that if she continued with the pregnancy, she would need a third C-section. That could jeopardize her ability to have more children than she and her husband want.
“We remain hopeful that the court will ultimately deny the state’s request and do so quickly, but in this case, any delay would mean justice denied,” said Molly Duane, chief attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. I’m worried that this will happen,” he said.
District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble sided with Cox on Thursday, issuing an order that applied only to Cox and did not expand access to abortion more broadly.
But Paxton has previously warned that doctors involved in providing emergency abortions are not immune from prosecution, and asked the state Supreme Court to intervene.
“Nothing can restore the life of the unborn child that is lost as a result,” the application states.
The state’s abortion ban includes only narrow exceptions to save the mother’s life or prevent serious impairment of a major bodily function.
Cox said in her lawsuit that her doctors believed an abortion was medically necessary for her, but they chose not to perform the abortion without a court order when faced with possible penalties, including life in prison and loss of her license. He said he was reluctant to do so.
“The idea that Ms. Cox so desperately wants to be a parent and that this law could actually take away that ability is shocking,” Guerra Gamble said Thursday during a hearing in an Austin courtroom. This is a genuine miscarriage of justice.” .
