Texas Supreme Court Rejected Dallas Woman’s Request for an Abortion; Her Attorneys Say She Traveled Out of State
A pregnant woman in Texas with a fatal condition left the state to get an abortion somewhere else before Monday when the state Supreme Court turned down her first-ever challenge to one of the strictest abortion laws in the U.S.
Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two, had been trying for almost a week to get court permission to end her pregnancy in Texas. But her lawyer told her she had to leave the state because she couldn’t wait any longer.
Trisomy 18 is a condition in her baby that makes it less likely to survive. In her claim, she said that continuing the pregnancy put her health and ability to have more children at risk.
Texas doesn’t allow abortions, but there are a few narrow exceptions when the mother’s life is in danger. These exceptions don’t apply to birth defects. Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said that Cox hadn’t shown that any of the problems with her pregnancy were so bad that they put her life in danger.
“Her health is in danger.” “She couldn’t wait any longer because she had been in and out of the emergency room,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights and Cox’s lawyer.
“This past week of legal limbo has been hellish for Kate. Her health is on the line. She’s been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn’t wait any longer. This is why judges and politicians should not be making healthcare decisions for pregnant people – they are not doctors”.
Where Cox went was not disclosed by the organization. She would have been 20 weeks and 6 days pregnant on Monday.
The state Supreme Court’s verdict against Cox was made just hours after her attorneys announced that she had fled Texas. It happened three days after a lower court’s decision to grant Cox permission to have an abortion was temporarily overturned by the court.
There’s no denying that Ms. Cox’s pregnancy has been incredibly difficult. The trisomy 18 diagnosis of an unborn child would be devastating for any parents, the court wrote. “But even severe pregnancy problems don’t carry the increased risks to the mother that the exception covers.”
After Roe v. Wade was overruled last year, Cox, a resident of the Dallas region, was thought to be the first woman in the United States to request permission from a court to have an abortion.
Her lawsuit soon gained national attention as a high-profile test of the bans in Texas and twelve other GOP-controlled states that forbid abortion at almost all stages of pregnancy.
A pregnant lady in Kentucky similarly petitioned a judge to grant an abortion a few days after Cox filed her complaint. In that scenario, a decision has not yet been made.
Paxton put up a strong defense in Texas to stop Cox from getting an abortion. He threatened three Houston hospitals with criminal and civil lawsuits if they let Cox’s doctor perform the surgery.
In addition, he pointed out that Cox had been discharged from the hospital following several ER trips, which did not prove that her life was in immediate danger.
During her first two pregnancies, Cox underwent cesarean sections. Her lawsuit claimed that because of her previous C-sections, she would be at risk of uterine rupture during induction of labor and that having another one at full term would jeopardize her capacity to carry another child.
Paxton, however, argued those justifications were insufficient.
Paxton’s office sent a petition to the court over the weekend that stated, “Rather, the only question is whether Ms. Cox’s condition meets the exception, regardless of how long the child is expected to live.”
As a fellow of Physicians for Reproductive Health and a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine in Colorado, Dr. Leilah Zahedi-Spung stated that when fatal fetal defects are identified, “there’s only risk to that pregnant person and no benefit unfortunately for that innocent child.”
“Extending the pregnancy does not change the survival rate, so you are putting your body through risks without any benefit,” Zahedi-Spung stated.
Cox was informed by medical professionals that her fetus had trisomy 18, a disorder caused by an extra copy of chromosome 18.
The prognosis carries a low survival probability and a very high risk of miscarriage or stillbirth. The doctors warned Cox that she might not be able to conceive again if she went into labor or carried the baby to term.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, trisomy 18 affects about 1 in 2,500 diagnosed pregnancies.
According to a court petition that the two groups made, around 70% of pregnancies involving the diagnosis that continue into 12 weeks gestational age result in no live birth.
Rarely is the termination of pregnancies due to fetal abnormalities or other frequently deadly medical issues brought up in national abortion debates.
Although current figures on the number of U.S. terminations due to fetal abnormalities are unknown, experts estimate that this represents a small portion of all procedures.
It has always been at the vanguard of the United States’ stringent abortion restrictions, and attempts are still being made to make it more difficult for expectant mothers to leave Texas for states where the operation is permitted.
A federal judge in Texas decided this year that the laws do not extend to aiding women in obtaining abortions outside of their state.
Doctors who perform abortions under Texas’ prohibitions may be charged with crimes and sentenced to up to life in prison.
They might also be sued by private individuals, who have the legal right to bring legal action against anyone who assists a woman in getting an abortion, including the staff of the doctor. The mother is not at risk of any legal repercussions according to the legislation.
The medical director of Trust Women, an abortion provider with clinics in Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kansas, Dr. Christina Bourne, stated that it might be subjective to determine if a person’s life is in danger.
According to Bourne, doctors are working in a perplexing environment right now.
“I am concerned about your health outcomes if you are a pregnant person in a legally restrictive state,” she said.
